Reprinted from The History of Collegiate Wrestling: A Century of Wrestling Excellence

By Jairus K. Hammond
Long before Boston Red Sox fans began bemoaning the “Curse of the Bambino,” supporters of Iowa State Teachers College, now Northern Iowa, must have felt that a black cloud was permanently camped over Cedar Falls, Iowa. For nearly a decade after World War II, the Dave McCuskey–led wresting program at Iowa Teachers encountered countless frustrations in its efforts to win an NCAA team title.

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It could easily be argued that Iowa Teachers was the best collegiate wrestling program in the country from 1946 through 1952. It crowned 16 individual champions during those years. Oklahoma State had 12 champs, and no other school had more than five in that time frame. The Tutors crowned three champions in 1946, 1947, 1949, and 1950, an era when there were just eight weight classes. In the postwar period, no other school managed three champs in a season even once until 1954, when Oklahoma State had three champs in 10 weight classes. Oklahoma State was the only school to accumulate more team points than Iowa Teachers in the seven tournaments beginning with 1946. Despite great accomplishments at both the team and individual level, Iowa Teachers won an NCAA championship just once, in 1950 when it hosted the tournament.

Iowa Teachers was primed to win the NCAA team title in 1946 when the tournament resumed after a three-year hiatus. The Tutors’ lineup included Cecil Mott, Gerry Leeman, Bill Koll, and Leon “Champ” Martin, 1942 NCAA runner-up. Just before the start of the tournament, the NCAA ruled that Martin was ineligible because he had graduated from Iowa Teachers under a special wartime program. Oklahoma State, host of the tournament, edged Iowa Teachers by a point for the team crown. If allowed to compete, Martin, the favorite at 175 pounds, would have very likely scored enough points for Iowa Teachers to win the 1946 crown.

The frustration continued in 1947 when Leeman, the Outstanding Wrestler in 1946, was sidelined just before the tournament with torn rib cartilage. Leeman had planned to drop to 121 pounds to enable Russ Bush to wrestle at 128 pounds, thus providing the Tutors with a stronger lineup. Bush, 1946 runner-up at 136 pounds, captured the title at 128 pounds, but Leeman was sorely missed. However, it is doubtful that Iowa Teachers could have won the title even if Leeman had been available. Cornell of Iowa wrestled a perfect tournament and outscored the Tutors 32-19.

The 1948 Iowa Teachers’ squad had a startling array of talent—five wrestlers who would win a total of 10 individual NCAA titles—yet the Tutors could manage just a fourth-place finish in the NCAA tournament. The problems started when the NCAA decided to use Olympic rules and weight classes for its tournament to help prepare the United States for the first Olympics in 12 years. The change in weight classes meant that either defending NCAA champ Bill Nelson or undefeated newcomer Bill Smith could not wrestle in the tournament. Then, Bush, another defending NCAA champ, was ruled ineligible on the eve of the tournament. The unfamiliar Olympic rules, which included a “touch” fall, used in the NCAA tournament produced numerous upsets, and NCAA champs Leeman and Nelson failed to place. There is no telling what would have happened had the tournament used collegiate rules, but it is hard not to believe that Iowa Teachers would have done much better under such conditions.

Iowa Teachers returned to its all too familiar second place in 1949 and crowned three individual champs, Nelson, Smith, and Keith Young, for the third time in four years. Oklahoma State, with a more balanced lineup, won its third title of the postwar era by finishing five points ahead of the Tutors 32-27. The frustration finally ended in 1950 as Iowa Teachers easily won the team race by placing in seven of eight weight classes. The Tutors’ triumvirate of defending champions at 145 through 165 pounds repeated, but that was just icing on the cake because the title was clinched before the finals began.

If Iowa Teachers’ supporters thought their luck had changed by winning a title in 1950, they were wrong. Shortly after the start of the 1951 season, the NCAA (yes, those guys again) ruled that two-time NCAA champ Bill Smith had completed his eligibility and could not compete in 1951. The Tutors dropped to fourth at the NCAA tournament, although Young became the third Iowa Teachers grappler to win three titles by capturing the 145-pound crown.

In 1952 Iowa Teachers lost two dual meets for the first time since the war and was not regarded as a contender for the NCAA team title. However, McCuskey’s squad far exceeded expectations and finished second by a point to defending champion Oklahoma. The Tutors led by three points after the semifinals and seemed poised to pull off a major upset. However, their three losing semifinalists failed to score a point in the consolations. Sooner Joe Butler benefited from an injury default in the consolation semifinals, and the two points that he scored at 191 pounds enabled Oklahoma to repeat as champion.

McCuskey left Iowa Teachers after the 1952 season to take the head coaching job at Iowa University. He would produce nine individual champions while the Hawkeyes’ mentor but never finish higher than third in the team race. Bill Koll took over for McCuskey, but 1952 marked the end of an era of greatness for Iowa Teachers. The Tutors finished fourth in 1953 but would never again challenge for the team title. After crowning 16 champs in the first seven years after the war, they have managed just four in the subsequent half-century.

Bad luck seemed to plague Iowa Teachers wrestlers even after they graduated. The best example of this is what happened to Bill Smith in 1956. Smith won a gold medal in freestyle wrestling at the 1952 Olympics and then stunned observers when he pinned the favored Dan Hodge in the 1956 trails to gain a place on the squad. However, Smith was declared ineligible for violating the amateur code by accepting $75 for coaching a high school team.