I will apologize in advance for the length of this post. At 83, I reflect back on past NCAA tournaments and several memorable tournaments come to mind but I was thinking today of one that
stands out in my mind and in a ode to nostalgia I have decided to write about one tournament in particular. It is not one that we won and as a matter of fact we placed 4th behind Iowa, Oklahoma and Iowa State. Forty-three years ago KC Scott and I decided to drive to Princeton, New Jersey for the 1981 NCAA Tournament. We were definitely rabid fans as Oklahoma State in a "down" year had just placed 3rd at the Big Eight Tournament held in Stillwater. Oklahoma was the Big 8 champion and Iowa State was a close 2nd. Oklahoma scored 80 points and we were a distant 3rdwith 56.5 points and one champion. Randy Willingham was our only champion wrestling at the then official weight of 118 pounds.
I had an uncle that lived in Trenton, NJ and I called him up out of the blue and asked him if he could put up a couple of Okies for a few nights and he agreed. This was my Dad's brother Lawrence and I was named after him. Trenton is only about 20 miles from Princeton where the tournament was to be held. We spent the first night on the road in Indianapolis, home of my wife's older sister so we were going on the cheap and decided this would be a good road trip. We must have been quite a sight travelling in my 1980 Subaru that suffered a break in the back window the day before the trip and it was patched up with plastic sheeting and duck tape and flapped in the breeze as we drove. The day of the tournament we followed my uncle's daughter to her work in Princeton. She worked in a stained glass shop just off the Princeton Campus but about a 6 block walk to the Arena. As mentioned we were going on the cheap so we parked at her business for free and walked back and forth. There was a local bar next to the stained glass shop called Rosso's that catered to the working man and definitely not what you would describe as Haute Couture. More on this bar
later.
The #1 seed at 118# that year was Gene Mills of Syracuse and he coasted through the bracket and won by a fall in the finals. He was the largest 118 pounder I had ever seen. Randy Willingham was seeded #2 after winning the Big 8 but he lost his first match 9-8 to Tom Reed of SIU/Edwardsville. He then proceeded to win 5 straight matches to take 3rd place pinning his first opponent Tom Reed in the conso finals. At 126 pounds OSU wrestler Jerry Kelly was seeded 4th after placing 2nd to Derek Glenn OU in the Big 12 tournament. Jerry won his first three matches but lost in the semis 6-4. He ended up finishing 3rd with a fall in the conso finals. We were seeded 5th at 134 with Thomas "The Snake" Landrum who used the Snake to get a fall in his first match but in the second match he met an unseeded wrestler from Auburn by the name of Clar Anderson who destroyed him 17-3. Thomas lost again in the consos and did not place. Auburn dropped wrestling after that year and Clar Anderson transferred to Oklahoma State after his 6th place finish and became a Cowboy National Champion.
At 142 pounds a freshman named Kenny Monday was seeded 4th after placing 3rd at the Big 8. Andre Metzger of OU was first at both the Big 8 and at Nationals. Kenny Monday won his first match 19-4 but this was the highlight of his first NCAA as in the2nd round he was defeated 13-9 by Bernie Fritz. (Time for Pennstate1985 to gloat as Fritz was from Penn State and BTW we sat
next to his parents at this tournament). Kenny lost again and did not place as a freshman. Fritz ended up placing 6th. At 150 pounds Matt Skove of OSU was seeded 9th and did not place.
At 158 pounds Dave Schultz of OU was seeded #1 as he had deserted the good guys the year before to wrestle their hated enemy. The rumor was that OU had a better freestyle coach and thus he decided to transfer. Ricky Stewart of Oklahoma State was seeded #2 and Schultz had beaten him the week before in the Big 8 finals 4-2. They were to live up to their seeds at nationals and were in the finals against each other. In one of my most memorable experiences, at the 4:50 mark in the match Ricky hit a fireman's carry on Dave and pinned him in 4:56. This was worth the
drive in itself. After the tournament had ended KC Scott and I were on the mat and I had Ricky pose in his OSU warmup for a picture. Many years later I sent this pic to Ricky and received a very nice letter in return.
OSU had another freshman in 1981 who was the only wrestler in the country to have beaten Kenny Monday in a high school match. At 167 pounds Mike Sheets, up two weights for the team had placed 3rd at the Big 12. He was unseeded in the Nationals and lost his first match to #3 seed Mark Schultz brother of Dave Schultz 13-6. Mark Schultz went on to win the tournament with
upsets of Perry Hummel of Iowa State who had beaten him at the Big 8 and then upsetting Mike DeAnna of Iowa who was the #1 seed for first place. Meanwhile in the consolations unseeded freshman Mike Sheets upset #6 seed John Reich of Navy on the way to placing 7th at 167. Mike Sheets was my favorite wrestler in my 64 years of watching Cowboy wrestling. At 177# Rey Martinez of OSU was the 12th seed after placing 3rd at the Big 8. Rey won his first match 14-7 but after that he lost twice and did not place. At 190 pounds we had our last wrestler Greg Hawkins who had placed 3rd at the Big 8 and was seeded 6th at Nationals. Greg won his first match but then was upset in the 2nd round and eventually lost again and did not place. OSU did not have a qualifier at heavyweight which was won by Lou Banach of Iowa to match his Brother Ed who won at 177 pounds. Steve "Dr. Death" Williams was third that year and Lou Banach pinned the #1 seed Bruce Baumgartner of Indiana State.
This was one of my most memorable tournaments and I have not missed many since 1961. I promised a little more information about Rosso's Bar where we parked between each session. Rosso's was not what one would think of when pondering watering holes near the prestigious Princeton University. We spent several hours total there between sessions drinking beer and discussing the tournament. As mentioned my cousin worked at the stained glass business next door but she had never darkened the doors of Rosso's as it apparently did not appeal to
her more refined tastes. KC Scott and I persuaded her to accompany us to this establishment after one of the sessions. You had to go up to the bartender to place your order in this small pub
and at the time the bartender was a grizzled older individual wearing a what would have been a white apron but was stained with the various foods or drink he had been serving. KC Scott asked my cousin what she would like to have to drink and she mentioned that a Harvey's Bristol Creme Sherry would be to her liking. KC approaches the bartender with our order of two draws and the afore-mentioned Sherry and he was promptly told by the bartender that "Harvey did not live here anymore and that she had the choice of a New Jersey Red or New Jersey White." I believe that was her last visit to Rosso's. One last observation to this egregiously long post. In the course of writing this "Book" I wanted to know if Rosso's still existed on Spring Street in Princeton north of the Campus. My research shows that Rosso's was sold in the latter1980's to a Hot wings place known as "Chuck's Spring street cafe." This would be the end of the story except that I learned that this cafe and bar was purchased in 1989 by Lyle Menendez of the infamous Lyle and Erik Menendez murders. After the two brothers had killed their parents in Beverly Hills they had told the police that unknown assailants had killed their parents and they were free for several months to spend overf$700,000 dollars on jewelry, a porsche carrera and Chuck's Spring street Cafe. Lyle had previously attended Princeton as a freshman before being suspended for poor grades and plagiarism. The two brothers are still in prison. THANKFULLY, THE END
stands out in my mind and in a ode to nostalgia I have decided to write about one tournament in particular. It is not one that we won and as a matter of fact we placed 4th behind Iowa, Oklahoma and Iowa State. Forty-three years ago KC Scott and I decided to drive to Princeton, New Jersey for the 1981 NCAA Tournament. We were definitely rabid fans as Oklahoma State in a "down" year had just placed 3rd at the Big Eight Tournament held in Stillwater. Oklahoma was the Big 8 champion and Iowa State was a close 2nd. Oklahoma scored 80 points and we were a distant 3rdwith 56.5 points and one champion. Randy Willingham was our only champion wrestling at the then official weight of 118 pounds.
I had an uncle that lived in Trenton, NJ and I called him up out of the blue and asked him if he could put up a couple of Okies for a few nights and he agreed. This was my Dad's brother Lawrence and I was named after him. Trenton is only about 20 miles from Princeton where the tournament was to be held. We spent the first night on the road in Indianapolis, home of my wife's older sister so we were going on the cheap and decided this would be a good road trip. We must have been quite a sight travelling in my 1980 Subaru that suffered a break in the back window the day before the trip and it was patched up with plastic sheeting and duck tape and flapped in the breeze as we drove. The day of the tournament we followed my uncle's daughter to her work in Princeton. She worked in a stained glass shop just off the Princeton Campus but about a 6 block walk to the Arena. As mentioned we were going on the cheap so we parked at her business for free and walked back and forth. There was a local bar next to the stained glass shop called Rosso's that catered to the working man and definitely not what you would describe as Haute Couture. More on this bar
later.
The #1 seed at 118# that year was Gene Mills of Syracuse and he coasted through the bracket and won by a fall in the finals. He was the largest 118 pounder I had ever seen. Randy Willingham was seeded #2 after winning the Big 8 but he lost his first match 9-8 to Tom Reed of SIU/Edwardsville. He then proceeded to win 5 straight matches to take 3rd place pinning his first opponent Tom Reed in the conso finals. At 126 pounds OSU wrestler Jerry Kelly was seeded 4th after placing 2nd to Derek Glenn OU in the Big 12 tournament. Jerry won his first three matches but lost in the semis 6-4. He ended up finishing 3rd with a fall in the conso finals. We were seeded 5th at 134 with Thomas "The Snake" Landrum who used the Snake to get a fall in his first match but in the second match he met an unseeded wrestler from Auburn by the name of Clar Anderson who destroyed him 17-3. Thomas lost again in the consos and did not place. Auburn dropped wrestling after that year and Clar Anderson transferred to Oklahoma State after his 6th place finish and became a Cowboy National Champion.
At 142 pounds a freshman named Kenny Monday was seeded 4th after placing 3rd at the Big 8. Andre Metzger of OU was first at both the Big 8 and at Nationals. Kenny Monday won his first match 19-4 but this was the highlight of his first NCAA as in the2nd round he was defeated 13-9 by Bernie Fritz. (Time for Pennstate1985 to gloat as Fritz was from Penn State and BTW we sat
next to his parents at this tournament). Kenny lost again and did not place as a freshman. Fritz ended up placing 6th. At 150 pounds Matt Skove of OSU was seeded 9th and did not place.
At 158 pounds Dave Schultz of OU was seeded #1 as he had deserted the good guys the year before to wrestle their hated enemy. The rumor was that OU had a better freestyle coach and thus he decided to transfer. Ricky Stewart of Oklahoma State was seeded #2 and Schultz had beaten him the week before in the Big 8 finals 4-2. They were to live up to their seeds at nationals and were in the finals against each other. In one of my most memorable experiences, at the 4:50 mark in the match Ricky hit a fireman's carry on Dave and pinned him in 4:56. This was worth the
drive in itself. After the tournament had ended KC Scott and I were on the mat and I had Ricky pose in his OSU warmup for a picture. Many years later I sent this pic to Ricky and received a very nice letter in return.
OSU had another freshman in 1981 who was the only wrestler in the country to have beaten Kenny Monday in a high school match. At 167 pounds Mike Sheets, up two weights for the team had placed 3rd at the Big 12. He was unseeded in the Nationals and lost his first match to #3 seed Mark Schultz brother of Dave Schultz 13-6. Mark Schultz went on to win the tournament with
upsets of Perry Hummel of Iowa State who had beaten him at the Big 8 and then upsetting Mike DeAnna of Iowa who was the #1 seed for first place. Meanwhile in the consolations unseeded freshman Mike Sheets upset #6 seed John Reich of Navy on the way to placing 7th at 167. Mike Sheets was my favorite wrestler in my 64 years of watching Cowboy wrestling. At 177# Rey Martinez of OSU was the 12th seed after placing 3rd at the Big 8. Rey won his first match 14-7 but after that he lost twice and did not place. At 190 pounds we had our last wrestler Greg Hawkins who had placed 3rd at the Big 8 and was seeded 6th at Nationals. Greg won his first match but then was upset in the 2nd round and eventually lost again and did not place. OSU did not have a qualifier at heavyweight which was won by Lou Banach of Iowa to match his Brother Ed who won at 177 pounds. Steve "Dr. Death" Williams was third that year and Lou Banach pinned the #1 seed Bruce Baumgartner of Indiana State.
This was one of my most memorable tournaments and I have not missed many since 1961. I promised a little more information about Rosso's Bar where we parked between each session. Rosso's was not what one would think of when pondering watering holes near the prestigious Princeton University. We spent several hours total there between sessions drinking beer and discussing the tournament. As mentioned my cousin worked at the stained glass business next door but she had never darkened the doors of Rosso's as it apparently did not appeal to
her more refined tastes. KC Scott and I persuaded her to accompany us to this establishment after one of the sessions. You had to go up to the bartender to place your order in this small pub
and at the time the bartender was a grizzled older individual wearing a what would have been a white apron but was stained with the various foods or drink he had been serving. KC Scott asked my cousin what she would like to have to drink and she mentioned that a Harvey's Bristol Creme Sherry would be to her liking. KC approaches the bartender with our order of two draws and the afore-mentioned Sherry and he was promptly told by the bartender that "Harvey did not live here anymore and that she had the choice of a New Jersey Red or New Jersey White." I believe that was her last visit to Rosso's. One last observation to this egregiously long post. In the course of writing this "Book" I wanted to know if Rosso's still existed on Spring Street in Princeton north of the Campus. My research shows that Rosso's was sold in the latter1980's to a Hot wings place known as "Chuck's Spring street cafe." This would be the end of the story except that I learned that this cafe and bar was purchased in 1989 by Lyle Menendez of the infamous Lyle and Erik Menendez murders. After the two brothers had killed their parents in Beverly Hills they had told the police that unknown assailants had killed their parents and they were free for several months to spend overf$700,000 dollars on jewelry, a porsche carrera and Chuck's Spring street Cafe. Lyle had previously attended Princeton as a freshman before being suspended for poor grades and plagiarism. The two brothers are still in prison. THANKFULLY, THE END
