The National Wrestling Hall of Fame is excited to announce that the 10th episode of the Legends interview series is now available on the Mat Talk Podcast Network.

The newest episode features the introduction speeches and acceptance speech of Joe McDaniel, who was inducted as a Distinguished Member in 1979. McDaniel passed away in 2011, but we recently found audiocassette tapes from Honors Weekend in 1979 that Jason Bryant of the Mat Talk Podcast Network was able to convert.

The interview can be heard for free at legends.mattalkonline.com/. It is also available via Stitcher, Spreaker, and Soundcloud as well as an RSS link for use in other third-party podcasting applications like Downcasts, BeyondPod and Podcast Republic. The podcast is also available as a free download on iTunes at halloffamelegends.org/itunes.

He was destined to be an Olympic champion, but the Games of the XII Olympiad were engulfed in the holocaust of World War II. So Joe McDaniel had to settle merely for recognition as the outstanding wrestler of the world.

Three times he was a National Collegiate winner for Oklahoma State University, each year leading the Cowboys of coach Edward C. Gallagher to the team trophy. As a 118-pound junior, he was voted outstanding wrestler of the 1938 tournament, an honor won a year earlier by his roommate, Stanley Henson. Three times he reigned as National AAU champion, twice as a collegian when the Cowboys also won team honors, and again in 1941, two years after graduation.

McDaniel’s only serious exposure to international competition came at the close of his junior year, in a 1938 European tour climaxed by a tournament at Stockholm, Sweden, among the leading wrestling nations of the world. He was undefeated in 12 bouts and scored an overwhelming victory over Odon Zombori of Hungary, winner of the Olympic gold two years earlier.

Despite a three-year hitch in the Air Corps and seven years as field representative for a major steel firm, McDaniel never has been far from the sport of wrestling.

After a year of high school coaching and another at Maryland, he returned from the war to coach 11 years at Syracuse University, leading the Orange to a fourth place national finish. In 1963, he moved to Wyoming, coaching two years in high school and eight at the University.

His career turned full circle in 1973, when he returned to his home town of Sulphur, Oklahoma, to serve as high school coach. In 30 years of coaching at all levels, his record was 257 victories against 105 defeats.

The interview is part of a series of interviews with the greatest names in wrestling. Created to preserve the memory and legacy of the most influential individuals in wrestling, the Legends series is funded entirely from donations, which can be made at http://legends.mattalkonline.com/contribute/. If donations exceed production costs, additional funds will be donated to the Hall of Fame.

Legends interviews with Dr. Stanley Henson, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member in 1978, Arthur "Bucky" Maughan, who was inducted as a Distinguished Member in 2003, John Irving, who received the Outstanding American award in 1992, Ben Peterson, who was inducted as a Distinguished Member in 1986, Ron Good, who received the Order of Merit in 2016, Dave Bennett, who received the Order of Merit in 2015, and Tony "Babe" Gizoni, who was inducted as a Distinguished Member in 2017, are also available at http://legends.mattalkonline.com/.

Mat Talk will provide copies of the Legends interviews to the Hall of Fame for its archives.

Jason Bryant, who received the Lifetime Service to Wrestling award from the Virginia Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2017, of the Mat Talk Podcast Network created the Legends interview concept, and also serves as the host and producer of the interviews. Bryant is president of the National Wrestling Media Association and has been honored for his work as both a broadcaster and writer, including receiving the Bob Dellinger Wrestling Writer of the Year award in 2007.