This story has been told before but it is always good to bring it up from time to time for those who are new to the Kansas wrestling community who may not be familiar with the fact that the University of Kansas once had a college wrestling team and that KU dropped the program after the 1966 season according to the article on KU 1932 Olympic Gold Medal winner Pete Mehringer. Read this incredible story on Mehringer. I have read stories on him before but I learned new things about this one time college football player, college wrestler, student college wrestling coach, Olympic wrestling gold medalist, professional football player, professional wrestler, actor and engineer. What a remarkable career and story!
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/Movies/2008/08/09/6400111.htmlI remember as a young high school student in 1966 reading in the
Kansas City Staran article about the University of Kansas making the decision to drop their college wrestling program. Wow that was over 45 years ago. Well that dates me. I believe the article stated that the KU Athletic Department decided that there was not enough interest in the program and that it did not compete well against the Oklahoma teams. 45 years ago is a long time ago but that is what I remember about the article.
It really leaves you with a feeling of sadness to think of the Kansas University dropping their program in 1966 and I think Kansas State University dropped their wrestling program around 1973 or 1974. Wow around 40 years without a NCAA Division I college wrestling program. Will we ever have one again? I know the chances of that do not look good but you never know. When we were going thru the potential Big 12 break up over the last two years, I considered the possibility of the Big Ten inviting Kansas University into their conference but requiring it to add college wrestling. That is a possible scenario but not likely to happen now.
About a year ago college wrestling lost a NCAA Division II powerhouse when UNO dropped their wrestling program. It was announced to the team on the very night it just won another national championship. Remember how mad the college wrestling community became. How many times have we seen college wrestling programs dropped, too many times. Too many times we have to then try to salvage the programs but it is almost always too late.
After the UNO decision, a group of us in the Kansas wrestling community decided that we wanted to do something it Kansas before another college wrestling program would be dropped in our state. We worked with the USAW-KS organization to establish the Kansas College Wrestling Fund administered and governed by USAW-KS. We now have a vehicle in place where the members of the Kansas wrestling community can be active in helping to keep college wrestling programs in Kansas.
No one can promise us that we will ever again have a NCAA Division I program in Kansas but we do now have 10 College wrestling programs in Kansas at the junior college, NAIA and NCAA Division II levels. These programs offer a tremendous amount of opportunity for our young Kansas wrestlers. I have shown in other topics how many of our former Kansas Kids and High School wrestlers have signed to wrestle at these Kansas colleges in the last few years.
Join us in this fight by becoming a Donor to the Kansas College Wrestling Fund and working within your local wrestling communities to help this fund grow. Whatever amount ($5, $10, $50, $100, $120, $250, $500, $1,000 or more) will be important. Give whatever you can afford. It will be appreciated and it will help make college wrestling grow in Kansas.
Make checks payable:
USA Wrestling – Kansas, Inc./KCWF, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) entity.
Mail to:
Mike Juby, Kansas College Wrestling Fund, 7208 Magnolia Way, Hutchinson, KS 67502
