Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys at the World Championships
September 06, 2015 | Cowboy Wrestling
Next week begins the 2015 United World Wrestling World Championships, which will be held in Las Vegas with the United States as the host country for the first time since 2003.
The Cowboys have a rich history in competing in the prestigious event with eight OSU wrestlers holding 18 world medals, including four former Cowboys accounting for seven World Championship titles.
Overall, 18 Cowboys have competed in at least one World Championship. The first to represent the Pokes was Bobby Douglas who wrestled at the 1963 Greco-Roman World Championships in Halsingborg, Sweden. Although Douglas did not place in 1963, he went on to make five other World Teams and earned a silver medal in 1966 and a bronze medal in 1970.
Fred Fozzard was the first gold medalist for OSU, as he won the 180.5-pound weight class in 1969 in Mar de Plata, Argentina.
Dave Schultz, who wrestled for the Cowboys in 1978, won six medals—one gold, two silvers and three bronze—at the World Championships from 1982-1993. His gold-medal performance came in in Kiev, Soviet Union in 1983.
In 1987, Oklahoma State wrestling coach John Smith won gold at the World Championships in Clermont-Ferrand, France, beginning a string of incredible wrestling that would later earn him recognition as the greatest American wrestler ever. After becoming an Olympic champ at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, he won three-consecutive World titles, competing in Switzerland, Japan and Bulgaria, respectively. He went on to repeat as Olympic champ in 1992 in Barcelona.
The final World Champion coming from OSU is Kenny Monday, who, at 163 pounds, also won in Switzerland in 1989. Monday took home silver in 1991 in Bulgaria.
Two other Cowboys to earn medals were Bill Harlow, who finished second in 1970, and Lee Roy Smith, who also produced a runner-up finish in 1983.
The last Cowboy medalist at the World Championships was current UFC light heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier, who took bronze in 2007 in Azerbaijan. He also competed on three other World Championship teams.
Seven wrestlers have spent time as coaches for Team USA at the event, including Myron Roderick, Doug Blubaugh, Gene Davis, Tadaaki Hatta, Lee Roy Smith and Bobby Douglas. Most recently, John Smith traveled to Istanbul, Turkey in 2011.
This year, 2008 NCAA champion Coleman Scott serves as Team USA's No. 3 wrestler at 61 kilograms and two-time NCAA champ Jordan Oliver is No. 2 at 65 kg.
The 2015 United World Wrestling World Championships will be held Sept. 7-12 at The Orleans in Las Vegas.
