My dad was on that Mean Machine team. I'm sure I could get some more details if you'd like them.
Best Wrestler (ever) from each D1 Wrestling Program in PA
- Thread starter mcpat
- Start date
Potentially true additional details from my dad.
- "The Carr kicked was "Willie". Fletcher convinced Willie to not bring in [reinforcements] from Erie to deal with the Mean Machine."
- "A few years back, Jimmy Carr and I, laughingly talked about the situation at the ceremony for the state wrestling Hall of Fame. This was shortly before Jimmy died."
- Dad won the tournament beating an NCAA D1 champ in the semis and pinning in the finals.
- The Erie Open was on Sunday and the Mean Machine also wrestled in (and won, of course) a tournament in Saratoga, N.Y. on Saturday, the day before. They traveled through the night to get to weigh ins for the Erie Open on time.
I met Doug Blubaugh personally way back in 1995, and yes, he was wearing the same thick glasses. He also had forearms that made him look like he had been laying heavy 3 hole cinder block for the last 30 years! The San Diego area has a Christmas time tournament called the El Cajon Invitational. Back in those days, it was a really competitive tournament with teams from all over the US showing up. Doug Blubaugh was coaching a junior college team in CA, so he was there to scout some of the wrestlers who were competing.
There was a pretty funny incident that took place. I was standing with a friend watching a match and Blubaugh was standing next to us. The ref called "no takedown" on a close attempt, and my friend said pretty loudly "That's BS!" Blubaugh looked at him and explained why the ref's call was correct. My friend started arguing about it to try to get his point across, but I pulled him away. Afterwards, I told him "Do you know that you were arguing with an Olympic Gold medalist about that takedown?" His jaw just dropped. I'll still never forget the look on his face.
I just recently came across a post on Facebook about Tab Thacker and Bob Guzzo. The comments were a small treasure trove of stories regarding both men and their respective careers. Reading the stories made me think of some of our “old timers” from this thread and I thought it’d be fit to include the link for you folks to read for yourselves:
Bumping this thread because I was looking for it and I think it’s a great read and I don’t mean my posts when I say that.
I’m prejudiced because I was fortunate enough to see shalles in person in high school unbelievable talent
I knew Shales' coach. He coached at Elizabethtown HS when I wrestled his kid in the region finals. He moved to Hollidaysburg for the Shales years. He moved back to Etown HS and I use to try to sell computers to him in his little office. When the bell rang, we'd casually walk into the hall and watch the co-eds change classes. It was the era of mini-skirts and no bras.
Sorry to take this off track, as Doug Blubaugh was an Oklahoma boy, but when I heard Blubaugh's name I had to chime in. I attended Doug Blubaugh's wrestling camp near Bloomington in the late 70's or early 80's. Not sure how old he was at that time but Coach Blubaugh was in phenomenal shape, still rolling around on the mats, with plenty of great stories, and of course those thick glasses. He was Indiana's coach at the time. Wish I would have appreciated it more at the time.......being a middle schooler I didn't fully appreciate it. He showed us his gold medal and I bought a poster of him beating his opponent for the gold. I think he beat a legendary wrestler. I remember him saying the refs were so biased towards other International wrestlers at that time, you had to thoroughly beat your opponent or the refs would steal the match.
You might ask, how did a young boy from SE PA decide to go to Blubaugh's camp in the Midwest? F&M College in Lancaster hosted the NWCA wrestling All Star Classic in 1978 and we had a few wrestlers stay with us. Lee Kemp from Wisconsin and Sam Komar from Indiana. What a thrill to meet those guys! Really bizarre weekend though. We were hit with a severe blizzard so not many people attended. Sam lost to Dan Hicks of Oregon State and Kemp tied Kelly Ward from Iowa State. Kind of a downer, but Sam encouraged me and a friend up the street to attend Blubaugh's camp that summer. Also got to see the great Dave Shultz wrestle in that meet. Surprisingly he lost to Mark Churella of Michigan. Another great! What an experience.
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No it's not. Schalles is one of the five greatest wrestlers in NCAA history, let alone Clarion.
NCAA titles: 2 each.
Senior level World/Olympic medals: Angle 2 golds, Schalles 0 medals.
You're right, it's not close.
The only reason Schalles didn't get 3 is because they were ineligible that season. You continue to be an asshole. On that, you certainly are right.
Still got no world medals. And that's MISTER a-hole to you.
I think the Schalles/Angle choice is 2 different answers depending on the question.
Who is the Greatest Clarion Wrestler?
Schalles
Who is the greatest wrestler that wrestled at Clarion?
Angle
Schalles was unbelievable his senior year of HS. As a junior he was good but far from great. I remember watching State College's Don Rockey beat Schalles in the district finals Schalles' junior year. Schalles made one of the biggest 1-season jumps I've ever seen between his junior and senior years.
Meh. How many times did Schalles make Stone Cold Steve Austin tap out?
Bill Hyman temple 85 Hvy champ.
Temple also had a guy in the finals in 81 at 190lbs, Tony mantella. Pretty sure his kid was a piaa champ. Rocky mantella. Think he went to Indiana.
Tony mantella lost to tom martucci from Trenton state D2/3 who was wrestling up. Martucci was head coach at bloom for a bit. Think he was on the loch have staff too.
Temple also had a guy in the finals in 81 at 190lbs, Tony mantella. Pretty sure his kid was a piaa champ. Rocky mantella. Think he went to Indiana.
Tony mantella lost to tom martucci from Trenton state D2/3 who was wrestling up. Martucci was head coach at bloom for a bit. Think he was on the loch have staff too.
Yup, his kid won states in the late 90s or early 2000s. And went to Indiana for a short spell.
Then he went to Florida and entered the "Florida Man" lore. All you have to do is add "kicks swans" to the Google search.
Wow, this kid had some problems. Here is piece of the swan arrest newspaper article.
A spokesman for the university said Mantella attended the school from fall 2001 to January 2003 but left without completing his degree.
The April arrest was his third run-in with the law in Orange County in a two-month span, Orange County court records show.
Three days before the swan incident, he was arrested and charged with trespassing at Disney Springs. In March, he was charged with attempted robbery and disorderly conduct after allegedly taking food from people's trays at a McDonald's before threatening to rob a couple in a nearby parking lot.
He was also arrested in Jacksonville for drinking beer at a beach and twice for huffing an aerosol can during the same two-month span, according to WFTV 9, the ABC affiliate in Orlando.
Ex-Indiana University wrestler, Florida man, charged with kicking swans in Orlando
Witnesses said that 34-year-old Rocco Mantella appeared to be practicing karate, according to Orlando Police.
www.courier-journal.com
Wth. Sounds like a real nutjob. Either drugs or mental health issues.Wow, this kid had some problems. Here is piece of the swan arrest newspaper article.
A spokesman for the university said Mantella attended the school from fall 2001 to January 2003 but left without completing his degree.
The April arrest was his third run-in with the law in Orange County in a two-month span, Orange County court records show.
Three days before the swan incident, he was arrested and charged with trespassing at Disney Springs. In March, he was charged with attempted robbery and disorderly conduct after allegedly taking food from people's trays at a McDonald's before threatening to rob a couple in a nearby parking lot.
He was also arrested in Jacksonville for drinking beer at a beach and twice for huffing an aerosol can during the same two-month span, according to WFTV 9, the ABC affiliate in Orlando.
Ex-Indiana University wrestler, Florida man, charged with kicking swans in Orlando
Witnesses said that 34-year-old Rocco Mantella appeared to be practicing karate, according to Orlando Police.www.courier-journal.com
Just testing the waters for the Ferraris.Wow, this kid had some problems. Here is piece of the swan arrest newspaper article.
A spokesman for the university said Mantella attended the school from fall 2001 to January 2003 but left without completing his degree.
The April arrest was his third run-in with the law in Orange County in a two-month span, Orange County court records show.
Three days before the swan incident, he was arrested and charged with trespassing at Disney Springs. In March, he was charged with attempted robbery and disorderly conduct after allegedly taking food from people's trays at a McDonald's before threatening to rob a couple in a nearby parking lot.
He was also arrested in Jacksonville for drinking beer at a beach and twice for huffing an aerosol can during the same two-month span, according to WFTV 9, the ABC affiliate in Orlando.
Ex-Indiana University wrestler, Florida man, charged with kicking swans in Orlando
Witnesses said that 34-year-old Rocco Mantella appeared to be practicing karate, according to Orlando Police.www.courier-journal.com
My good friend Bill Hyman did it at HWT for Temple in 1985. Bill was fourth the year prior. Yes…Temple was D1. I give it to Bill over Boyd…simply because I think 1985 wrestling was more competitive that the 60s.
As an eyewitness, I can say that Temple in the 60's was competitive. They had a good program with some very tough kids. Wayne Boyd was good enough to win nationals. He decked a kid from Iowa or Oklahoma State in the finals, using a move I like to think he saw me use--- a kind of chin whip.
My only comment on: '1985 wrestling was more competitive that the 60s' is bullcrap. The little kids, yes, cause youth wrestling really took off in the 70's. But HS? nah. Just the same. A stud in the 60s would have been a stud in the 80s. It was only as the ones trained from childhood started working their way through the system that wrestling significantly improved. The 80s were on the cusp of that transition.
