Vincenzo Joseph Retires
- Thread starter mcpat
- Start date
Wish he had taken off the boots at OTT.
We lost two great ones - Hall and Joseph - the past week and a half.
We lost two great ones - Hall and Joseph - the past week and a half.
and I fear DT and Zain and Nolf aren't far behind. Father Time waits for no one.
Cenzo's concrete hips will never be equalled. Legend.
The most legendary trip in NCAA history. Thanks Cenzo.
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Thanks for posting this.......epic match with a great ending!
Say what you want to about Tim Johnson, but listening to that broadcast team reminded how much we just want commentary about wrestling and the match at hand. And how pathetic the commentary was at this last finals. Two buffoons posturing about who is the toughest guy in the room. I guess ESPN's desire to appeal to a wider audience led to that debacle, but I digress. Cenzo cemented his place in PSU history with that win. Thanks for the memories!
Say what you want to about Tim Johnson, but listening to that broadcast team reminded how much we just want commentary about wrestling and the match at hand. And how pathetic the commentary was at this last finals. Two buffoons posturing about who is the toughest guy in the room. I guess ESPN's desire to appeal to a wider audience led to that debacle, but I digress. Cenzo cemented his place in PSU history with that win. Thanks for the memories!
Thanks for the memories, Cenzo! His pin of Martinez is still one of my favorite sports memories. What a career! 🦁🔥
I watched the match by myself and our cat. I was so nervous during the latter parts of the match that I kept hitting pause to collect myself : ) When Cenzo got the pin I screamed so loud that my cat freaked out! A great memory for sure.
I've watched this match so many times. It doesn't matter if it was the 3rd time I've watched or the 47th time. I still get chills. Every-single-time. Joseph will always be a Nittany Lion Legend.
It's close but Nickal's pin of MyMar will always be my #1. That match went so suddenly from looming disaster to pin victory that I was left completely stunned and unable to think for several minutes. With Cenzo, what an amazing upset, but he was winning in the third when it happened, so it wasn't quite as stunning in real time.
Either way, thanks for the memories, Cenzo. You will always be one of the greats!
The Mar-Mar (Martinez & Marinelli) rivalries were wonderful. His freshman NCAA win remains my favorite PSU wrestling match of all time and Cenzo tops my list of favorite PSU wrestlers. He is not the most decorated but always wrestled fearlessly with passion, heart and humility. I was really hoping he could put together one final run at the team trials but sometimes your body just doesn't cooperate. Excited now to follow his coaching career.
Thanks Cenzo - you did Penn State and Pittsburgh proud!
Thanks Cenzo - you did Penn State and Pittsburgh proud!
Marinelli and Joseph should be forced to wrestle each other in one last live-streamed exhibition bout before they are allowed to retire.
I've told this story, but that night, inexplicably, my wife had scheduled a night out w/ her girlfriends, leaving me at home to watch while in charge of our infant son. Wouldn't you know it, he woke up crying during Nolf's match. I put him in the baby carrier and rocked him in the rocking chair in front of the TV, which put him out again lying on my chest, tentatively, just as Cenzo's match started. To this day, I still hold NOT re-awakening him when Cenzo stuck iMar as one of the hardest accomplishments of my entire life. I was whisper-screaming like a maniac, lol.
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My 80 something, quiet and stoic father and I were sitting in first row of second section when Cenzo stuck Martinez. My dad came flying out of his seat fist pumping the air and screaming. As he was doing that his momentum carried his upper body out over the railing and I grabbed his shirt to reel him back in. As he came back to safe ground he never stopped high-fiving anybody who would exchange palms with him. He passed this past fall, and that match more than any other makes me smile foundly.
I chatted with his mother who was at a Penn State / Maryland Match. I told her that anytime I feel down, I watch the video of her son pinning Imar. She told me that she does the same thing.
Another reason to appreciate Cenzo is his wit. This was all-time, IMO:
Especially:
www.barstoolsports.com
Especially:
21 Questions with 2x NCAA Champ Vincenzo Joseph
Vincenzo Joseph is the first Penn State wrestler to ever win NCAA titles as a freshman and sophomore. The junior from Pittsburgh is currently 8-0 on the season and ranked #1 at 165 pounds. Last Friday...
we will miss you Vincenzo great wrestler interview and talking up PSU wrestling!
Awesome story.
I am sorry for your loss.
I attnd NCAAs with my dad to create similar memories (he is not so stoic though).
Remember when Gibbons kept calling him "senzo" instead of "chenzo" his freshman year?
My son and I talked with him at the PSU social after the 2019 finals in Pittsburgh. Despite the crushing loss he could not have been more gracious.
Thanks for the memories Cenzo, an all time great!
Thanks for the memories Cenzo, an all time great!
I’ll always remember him goingchest to chest with Marinelli. Didn’t always work for him, but, he brought the thrill. That’s an especially revered crowd crescendo when two top guys get into the big hug. The build up, the big “oooh” and the thunder after the lightning.
Gibbons and Tim Johnson struggle with any ethnic name
A thing I learned at Big Tens this year was that Tim Johnson, live on the mic, talks with his hands and looks his coworkers in the eyes as he's talking!
It was so weird to me. At first I was like 'how does he even see what's happening, when he's turned 90 degrees to his partner (Sparks or Gibbons, both of whom are capable of keeping their eyes on the mat while commentating). But then a lightbulb of sorts went off and I thought 'no wonder he sounds soo terrible on audio-only--he's talking like he's having a personal conversation, and he constantly needs affirmation from the person he's talking to that they are listening.' But as Sparks & Gibbons keep their eyes on the mat, they're not giving him that nod or verbal cue that he's been heard, so he goes on & on just missing whole pieces of action.
I'm assuming this is from over on the OSU board? I know exactly where Central Catholic is. I work there several times a week. Hell, it's almost attached to the Univerity of Pittsburgh. Anyway, Willie said 1 champ from inside the city limits of the burgh. Was he not talking about Cenzo? Or does Central Catholic have more than 1??
Also, here's a list of the 13 schools within the actual city limits of Pittsburgh.
How many state champs from those schools?
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