Thirty years ago Wayne Wells, Dan Gable, and Sanders were Olympic Champions as were Ben and John Peterson, and Loyd Keaser. I think sometimes we give ourselves way too much credit when we decide that the training of today is so much better than the training of a while back. Back in the sixties Pudge Wilson had his entire St. Francis team buck bales all summer long to get strong. Some of those kids and many others in the state were by far equal to any strength oriented kids in this state today. I wrestled then I coached now, and I tell you from my perspective the sport has not changed one way or the other to any decernable degree. I don't think kids work as hard today even though they have the opportunity to do so, I know there re the priveleged few who have money and can afford to travel all over the country to learn their craft but the bulk of wrestling in this country is not made up of those kids. Eastern Kansas didnt have guys like Aken in their communities then but in Western Kansas almost every school had many men in their communities who were very very talented collegiate wresltlers in their day. I just don't think 20 or 30 years is as long as people think it is in the evolution of a sport as old as this one is. It does make for a nice debate doesnt it.
