A Century of Cowboy Wrestling: 1910s

In the fall of 1914, a dynasty was born as Oklahoma A&M formed its first wrestling team.

A.M. Colville served as the first coach of the program, which wrestled only one dual in its inaugural season during the spring of 1915. His squad included Dan F. Cooley—who was the first to record an individual dual win by pinning his opponent in 55 seconds—Herman Dose, Millard Harnden, R.W. Havenstrite and Jack Briscoe.

In 1916, Colville passed off the coaching position to Athletic Director and former Oklahoma A&M track and football standout Ed Gallagher.

After another 0-1 season in 1916, Gallagher and his wrestlers recorded the first program win in 1917, defeating Emporia State, 15-10. They went on to pick up another win and a tied decision to bring the Oklahoma A&M Tigers to 2-2-1 by the end of the 1910s.

Although the winning percentage was not yet the incredible one that it is today, the 1910s were one of the most important decades for the program. Mainly due to the addition of Gallagher, who went on to establish wrestling royalty at the school and had dramatic impact on the sport as a whole.

Gallagher, who previously spent time as the Oklahoma A&M track coach, was hired at the school's AD in 1914. Although Gallagher never wrestled in an organized high school or college program, he was at the helm of the wrestling program from 1916-1940 and produced 19 undefeated seasons, 11 team national championships and 37 individual national champions. He would later become known as the "Father of Intercollegiate Wrestling" for his many contributions to the sport, including about 500 wrestling holds and variations that he came up with by using a human skeleton and rubber bands, thanks to his engineering degree.

He was interested in spreading his scientific approach to wrestling, holding clinics before and after duals in opponents' gyms. He also wrote two instructional books.

His dedication and success in developing and expanding the sport, eventually led to him being named as one of the top-three wrestling coaches in history in a poll that was taken in 2005.

The Oklahoma A&M wrestlers of the 1910s may not have seen a huge amount of success, but they were gaining momentum quickly before World War I put college athletics on hold. There was a lot more to come from Ed Gallagher and his wrestlers.

Oklahoma State University Athletics

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