Non DI Talent at the Midlands = The 1970's

 

Like the 1960's the 1970's had a handful of times where non-DI talent got to shine at the Midlands championships. Today we'll be looking at some of their most memorable moments. 

Tanniehill & Peterson Make For An All NAIA Final at 167

It's one thing for a non-DI wrestler to make the Midlands finals, but when both wrestlers are non-DI we have ourselves a very rare event! I've written about both Jim Tanniehill & John Peterson many times throughout this history of Johnnythompsonnum1.  Both were featured in "Gone, Lost & Forgotten" when I covered this history of both Winona State & UW-Stout, two programs we unfortunately no longer have.  Alabama born Tanniehill between the NAIA & NCAA Division I earned a total of 6 All American honors. Along with edging Peterson here by a score of 3-2, he went on to participate in four more Midlands championships, taking one 3rd and three titles.  Peterson's story is one I never grow tired of. 

John Peterson spent the majority of his career in the shadow of his older, more successful brother Ben. While Ben was a hero at the High School level, who everyone, everywhere sought after, John never even qualified for state.  Yet when Ben went on to become a superstar at Iowa State, John quietly went to UW-Stout.  It wasn't until his senior season, that things finally began to come together for him. The first of which was here, making the finals at the Midlands. He went on to place 5th at the NAIA championships & then went on to become an Olympic legend in his own right, earning both Silver & Gold medals.  Not bad for a guy that never made state in high school.  By the way, post college he won a Midlands title in 1971. 

Ron Ray Makes Midlands Semi-Finals at 167 in 1972 

Raised on the west side of Chicago, long before he became a national champion for the Oklahoma State Cowboys , Ron Ray was first a Ram for Wilbur Wright Junior College.  After winning his first of what would eventually become two NJCAA titles, he entered the 1972 Midlands championships as a sophomore making the semi-finals before eventually taking 6th place.  Like Peterson mentioned above, Ray is yet another wrestler who shined far brighter beyond High School, than he ever did in.  The best he ever did at the Illinois state championships was 5th. 

Ken Martin Takes Out Michigan All American Twice to Place 5th 

If you knew the wrestling career of Ken Martin, one thing was for certain, it was always exciting.  A two time 4th placer at the Wisconsin High School State championships, Martin went on to a stellar NAIA career at UW-Parkside. After finishing as the NAIA runner-up in 1971 as a freshman, he lost a controversial semi-final match at the NAIA championships in 1972 as a sophomore.  During the action, the scores table forgot to award Martin two backpoints.  As a result he ended up losing the match by 1 point to the eventual champion as he came back to take third.  Martin would win the NAIA title in 1973 as a junior. 

Going into his senior season, he made the Midlands quarter-finals where he was paired up with Michigan All American Jeff Guyton. Not only did Martin win the match, he majored Guyton 10-2.  He would later meet up with the Wolverine again, this time defeating him 7-3 for 5th place. 

DII Roadrunners Mow Through Competition at 1977 Midlands 

In 1987 The Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners became an NCAA Division I institution. Up until that point, they were one of the toughest NCAA Division II institutions in the country.  Not only did many of their wrestlers dominate at the DII level, many of them dominated at the DI level. A perfect example, was John Azevedo & Franc Affentranger at the 1977 Midlands.  Now maybe to some, considering what both had already done in their careers, it may not be all that fair to include them on a list like this.  After all Azevedo had started off his career at Oklahoma. He was in many ways, definitely good enough to be a DI wrestler.  A three time NCAA DII champ, he won a DI title in 1980.  Much the same could be said about Affentranger.  He entered this particular Midlands championships, having already won a DII title & having placed 3rd at the DI championships.  Nevertheless he was a DII wrestler, who earned a 3rd place finish, while in route upending two time BIG 10 champ Steve Hunt of Iowa in a tiebreaker.  Azevedo would lose to Mike McArthur, a two time All American for Minnesota in the finals.  Azevedo would then win a Midlands title of his own in 1979. 

Mike Rossetti Earns a Midlands Medal For DIII

An NCAA DIII champion for what is today known as The College of New Jersey in 1978, Mike Rossetti entered the Midlands championships to test his skills against the DI competition.  In round two, he faced Iowa's Mark Mysnyk whom he defeated 10-1. Ironically enough Mysnyk went on to become an orthopedic surgeon who once removed a large cyst from my sister's hand. At the time I had just began my love affair with this great sport & as a result Dr. Mysnyk gave my Dad a book he helped to author entitled Winning Wrestling Moves. With that little tangent off the side, getting back to Rossetti....He would then defeat future Illinois All American Kevin Puebla 3-1, before dropping a tough match to Wisconsin's Jim Hanson.  In the consolation semi-finals, he edged Jim Lord of Iowa State, a high school legend in the Hawkeye state who won three state titles for Lisbon.  Rossetti then dropped a very tight 4-3 decision to Mike Mangianti, another Midlands legend, featured in part 1 of my series entitled Post Grads At the Midlands. Rossetti finished in 4th place.  He would go on to win NCAA DIII title #2 later that season. 


Make sure to check out Non DI Talent at the Midlands = the 1980's.   As the 60's & 70's were quite interesting, the 80's were a whole new ball game.