Seth Duckworth
Last week on the second episode of the Texas Mat Talk Podcast with Jayson Conger, Jayson and Melissa Head Coach Oliver Pierce dove in on a lot of topics related to Texas wrestling. This included some history and background on the growth of the sport in the state and how wrestling in Texas has formed.
With that, I thought I’d try and do some historical research to find out a little context surrounding some of that history.
Notably, Texas A&M, the University of Texas, UTEP, and a few other large schools in the state have had wrestling programs. None produced any NCAA Champions but UT did get one Olympian and NCAA finalist, Ralph Hammonds, that’s detailed in this story by Jonathan Wells of Burnt Orange Nation.
UT’s forgotten Olympians – Burnt Orange Nation
According to Mark Palmer, a wrestling historian and former writer for Intermat, Bob Johnson is the first native Texan to win an NCAA Championship.
According to records kept by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, Bob Johnson was a two-time NCAA champion in 1961 and 1962 at Oklahoma State. Johnson also competed at the tournament in 1960 but did not place. He was originally from Amarillo, Texas and attended high school there. You can actually watch his 1962 NCAA title below. His match starts at 17:30.
Palmer breaks down the match as follows.
InterMat Wrestling – Wrestling, a half-century ago: 1962 NCAAs on film (intermatwrestle.com)
Match No. 3 — 177 pounds (17 minutes, 30 seconds into film): No. 1 seed Bob Johnson (Oklahoma State) dec. No. 2 Dean Lahr (Colorado), 3-2
“Lahr is wearing headgear. Johnson, the only native Texan to win an NCAA wrestling title, successfully defended his championship won at the 1961 NCAAs. Lahr went on to win 177 titles at the 1963 and 1964 NCAAs”
Since then, we’ve of course had Bo Nickal and AJ Ferrari win NCAA titles and Johnson is no longer “the only native Texan” as Mark wrote at the time, but it’s interesting to know this piece of history.
As I’ve researched it, it’s been difficult to find any data on his high school and youth wrestling background. As we know, at the time it was not a sponsored UIL sport but it’s not clear if he participated in various club programs that may have been available in the 1950s. Regardless, Johnson holds an important piece in the history of Texas wrestling.
