It was 1976 and with nothing better to do, several of my friends and I started going to the Penn State wrestling matches. Penn State was undefeated that year until they met up with Navy on a cold February afternoon. Both Penn State and Navy were ranked in the top ten that year and the match was a nail biter. We had great seats - only of couple of rows up from the mat. By coincidence, our group was seated next to the State College high school coach and his wife. Half way through the match the referee got too close to the action and got kicked in the head. He couldn’t continue. While the referee was being attended to, the high school coach got up from his seat and spoke to the coaches, offering his services. By mutual agreement, the High School coach was designated as the referee for the remaining matches. I don’t recall all of the details, but in the matches that followed it seemed to me that the new referee went out of his way to demonstrate that he was not biased toward PSU. In the next to last match, PSU’s Bill Bertrand lost a close contest that particularly riled up the crowd. That put PSU down by one point as they trotted out the heavyweights. For Penn State, it was Brad Benson. Benson also played football for Paterno and later played ten years in the NFL as an All-Pro offensive lineman for the NY Giants. Benson stood at 6’4” and was a giant next to Navy’s much smaller heavyweight. I thought this would be an easy one and that PSU would secure the victory. The match went into the final minute with Benson and his opponent tied 3-3. Benson was down, needing only an escape to win the match. Navy’s man was stalling the hell out the match, hanging on to Benson’s foot like a piece of toilet paper stuck to the shoe. To my untrained eye, I thought Benson had the escape a couple of times, but the call never came. The crowd could not have been louder and my brother was hammering the official mercilessly. The match ended without an escape. Benson and his opponent tied (in those days matches could end in a tie) and PSU lost by a point. The boos rained down from Rec Hall like hail during a violent thunderstorm and much of the anger and disappointment was directed toward the high school coach who volunteered to officiate the match. Immediately, the wife of the coach (seated right next to us) broke down and started bawling. One of the most vociferous of the fans was my brother (well, I guess I was doing my part as well). She lit into my brother with venom unseen from the snakes of hell – screaming at the top of her lungs. I was hooked on wrestling – in my warped mind that was fun.
Who Remembers This?
- Thread starter IndianaNittanyLion
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Well, the coach at SCAHS thru 1976, a 3 time AA wrestling for Penn State.
That wrestler for Navy in the 190 pound weight class was my father Greg Cooper. I believe he won the match 8-6 as that was the final score he told us about it. He told us that before that match his coach got him fired up to wrestle Bertrand because they wrestled earlier in the year with Bertrand winning by a score of 6-5. His coach told him that Bertrand handled him in the last match and he said it worked as he ended up wrestling very well and winning that night. I love hearing the other side of the story of what happened that night.
AWESOME story! Not to hijack, but you brought back a memory where my father came to watch me play quarterback with my three sisters. Well, I was having a shitty night throwing the ball and this guy sitting in front of my sisters was screaming at the coach to take me out of the game. Well, my dad said he really felt bad for the guy because all three of my sisters started screaming at him and hitting him with a paper program, popcorn and one purse! Yes...I come from a shy, reserved family. LMFAOOOO!!
I checked the records that the PSWC has online, and it appears that you have the correct scores. Bertrand defeated your dad 6-5 on 12/6/75. He was 11-0 on the season heading into their rematch on 2/7/76, and your dad won that one 6-8. Great story by the OP and by you.
FWIW, it appears that the two of them met the following season, on 12/4/76 and your dad lost that match 2-8.
I knew that SCHS coach, in fact wrestled for him. I also knew his sweet wife and if she got that riled the fans must have been pretty rough that night. I could see him bending over backwards not to seem pro-PSU, as he was a PSU grad and 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finisher for the Lions. He was a very good man and coach. His poor wife that night!
I didn't recall that Bertrand was undefeated at that point in the season (great insight Tom). That probably contributed to the tension during the match. It's also great to hear the other side of the story (thanks Scott). Also, several of you knew the State College HS coach. What's his name? I probably owe him and his wife a long overdue apology for contributing to the bedlam.
You got it right! I was there too and remember Pifer taking the refs place. My recollection was that the original ref hurt his knee, but that was so long ago. I also remember that Navy was quite skilled at the stalling tactics in those days, the Ok State guys today would appreciate their tactics.
The name sounds very familiar. Did he wrestle for PSU in the late 50s or early 60s?
Here is another one that I am pretty sure happened in the same season. Penn State had a home dual against Michigan. At 177, Penn State had Jerry White who was pretty good but also a little bit of a hothead. At some point in the 177 match, the Michigan guy had one of White's legs and drove him out of bounds where White went down on his butt with the Michigan guy still holding on. . The ref blew the whistle signaling out of bounds and then turned around to walk towards the center for a restart. I'm not sure what provoked this, maybe the Michigan guy took too long to disengage, but just after the ref turned away, White kicked down onto the Michigan guy's face with his other foot that was free. The Michigan guy got really POd and took a swing at White, and the ref had just turned back around again and saw the punch being thrown. He stepped in and separated the two wrestlers and signaled a DQ against Michigan. My recollection is that there was a big uproar from the Michigan team because they had seen the entire incident including the kick to the face. The ref didn't change his call and Penn State received 6 points and ended up winning the dual. I don't remember whether the 6 points made the difference in who won.
I know most of us don't want to see Penn State getting wins like that, but I still think that incident was pretty funny. I wonder what Koll said to White after the dual was over.
Hmm, I don't know anything about what took place. Here's what I can add.
PSU did have a home dual against Michigan on 12/12/75. In the match, Bill Bertrand, at 190 (not Jerry White, at 177) won by DQ over King from Michigan. PSU only lost 2 matches in the dual (Bill Vollrath at 150 and Jerry White at 177), so the DQ would not have made any difference in which team won. (PSU won 28-5 with the DQ.)
PSU was at Michigan the following season (76-77), and did not wrestle Michigan the season after that (77-78), so I suspect you got the season correct, and the team correct, but jumbled up the wrestlers.
From a reffing perspective, what you detailed is why refs are instructed to guide the wrestlers back to the center, and to never turn their backs on the wrestlers. In addition, you can only make calls based on what you see, not what the coaches or the wrestlers say. That's part of the reason that there are now assistant refs in many matches, as well as video replay for challenges.
Thanks for the clarification. I could have sworn it was White, but that was 40 years ago. (A perfect example of why people need to be careful of eyewitness testimony.) Penn State had a really strong team that year and everyone thought they had a chance to win the national championship. Unfortunately, a combination of bad draws and a few matches that didn't go our way kept that from happening.
To add to what Tom has already said. . . . From what I gather, Bertrand was the one who had a temper. Two years later, he blew up during a match and was himself DQed after he went after the referee. He was then kicked off the team. I didn't see the match - perhaps someone else can fill in the details.
DQ'd and soon after removed from the team. Jerry White's demeanor is not even close to what was mistakenly portrayed above.
Jerry White was a very good wrestler in his day. A West Branch wrestler if I remember correctly.
It's very likely that I was confusing White with Bertrand for both the specific match and their general temperament. Like I said, that was 40 years ago and they were back to back in the lineup. I remember that White was very good too. I thought he had a chance at a national title.
Ron Pifer was a two time PIAA state champ from my hometown, Bellefonte, which, as most of you know, is only 10 miles from PSU. He did wrestle for PSU in the late 50's and early 60's. His nemesis, as I recall, was a guy from Lehigh by the name of Kirk Pendleton. Ron is a great guy and was a standout for PSU. His brother- in-law, Sam Markle, recently passed. Sam was an accomplished referee who was recently inducted into the wrestling hall of fame for his dedication to the sport over the last 60 plus years. Another great from Bellefonte who was a stand out at PSU is Dave Adams who preceded Pifer by a few years.
I actually got to see Pifer wrestle in an event that I think was intended for charity. It was around 1970 and some really big names were booked to participate. Pifer chewed up his opponent who was about 10 years younger. I was pretty impressed.
The big match of the evening was supposed to be Gray Simons vs Mike Caruso but Caruso backed out at the last minute. Simons ended up wrestling Bob Fehrs who lost to Caruso three straight years in the NCAA finals. Simons won pretty handily although the score wasn't really high. We heard thru the grapevine, but not confirmed, that Caruso had said yes before being told who he would wrestle, but backed out when he learned it would be Simons. Don't know if that was really the case, just some chatter.
I was in Rec Hall the night that Wally Clark nearly upset Mike Caruso. It was the same night that Vince Fitz defeated Joe Peritore (who to that point had never lost in a dual meet). PSU defeated Lehigh that night when Mike Reid defeated his heavyweight opponent. It was pandemonium to say the least. Being a season ticket holder I have never seen it like it was that night in1967. See picture....http://nittanyliongrappling.org/reid.html
Thanks. I thought his name sounded familiar. I used to attend a lot of wrestling matches during my undergrad days. I really miss Penn State.
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I remember that. Thought it was so cool that our coach was refereeing then was so pissed at him for trying not to seem like a homer.
I was there, too, lion4ever--one of the first PSU matches I ever saw--was in HS at the time. Fitz was a very slick wrestler, a NJ boy as I recall. Wally Clark was a former Clearfield wrestler. Back in those days Lehigh and Navy were usually the biggest duals of the year.
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