Why is it..............

[harry thornton]

This is soooo true, IF there are less 1-2 AM ending tournaments, which can burn out the wrestler as well as the family and coaches with young families.

Dang. How many times do I have to apologize for that FCI tournament I had in Dalton in '98 ?!

[harry thornton]

I don't think it's TJ.......initials would be JL.

Then they got two.

[RMC]

Then they got two.

 

Oh...I get it.....TJ Duncan....already there and the one I'm talking about is named Luster. I thought you were talking about TJ Mitchell.

[Sommers]

Oh...I get it.....TJ Duncan....already there and the one I'm talking about is named Luster. I thought you were talking about TJ Mitchell.

TJ is the one I "heard" may be up there unless something else happens. Would there be a better HS recruit from GA today?

[RMC]

TJ is the one I "heard" may be up there unless something else happens. Would there be a better HS recruit from GA today?

 

Yup...and we got them both!

[takedown3]

I thought Luther Killian won a national or southern prep championship in the 50's for McCallie.

 

Someone correct me.

 

reftn

Luther graduated in 1968. I'll pass on the compliment.

[takedown3]

I hope you are kidding..... Great example you are setting. Forget sociology this is a wrestling board.

 

Huh!

[takedown3]

The Southern Open brought in some of the best college wrestlers and best wrestling minds in he country. Through their own efforts, Chattanooga became a very proud wrestling community, and justly so.

 

I wrestled in the first Southern Open in 1970. If memory serves (which is a gigantic IF) we had most of the 1972 Olympic Team there. The next year the Russian and American teams put on a match in a full to the rafters old Mac gym. All the Scots-Irish wrestlers showed up as well as the local live wrestling fans who heard the Russians were going to be there with Saul Wengeroff!

[delaWarr]

I wrestled in the first Southern Open in 1970. If memory serves (which is a gigantic IF) we had most of the 1972 Olympic Team there. The next year the Russian and American teams put on a match in a full to the rafters old Mac gym. All the Scots-Irish wrestlers showed up as well as the local live wrestling fans who heard the Russians were going to be there with Saul Wengeroff!

 

I missed seeing the Russians on that first International match at old Mac, but I remember the huge disappointment of some of the Mid-State guys who were there. Not enough action...boring 1 - 0 matches...etc. I never quite bought into their take for some reason, and later came to realize their appreciation of what they saw was probably handicapped by their lack of knowledge and understanding of the style and skills. It was my good fortune to see most of the International competitions which followed at McClellan. Wasn't the World Cup hosted there a couple of times?

 

Many wrestlers and fans have favorite stories about the Southern Open. It truly was a premier event at given times. I guess my most memorable experience was watching a match between Billy Martin, Jr. and Jimmy Carr, maybe during or near the mid-seventies. I was sitting with Billy Martin, Sr. Billy, Jr. had fallen behind and wasn't having much success in scoring catch-up points. Sr. confidently told me not to be concerned about the score, that Jr. was going to have Jimmy in a cradle at any time. And sure enough, as Sr. had predicted, Jr. ended the match before time expired by seizing the exact instant that set-up and timing came together (or that opportunity and timing came together), locked in the cradle, and cranked. Billy Sr. believed in the value of the cradle. He had claimed in the past that it was (is) "the best pinning combination" in wrestling. A convincing testimony of the claim...

[Sommers]

...locked in the cradle, and cranked. Billy Sr. believed in the value of the cradle. He had claimed in the past that it was (is) "the best pinning combination" in wrestling. A convincing testimony of the claim...

It can kill the best!! Painful way to go down. (at least to your ego).

Edited February 4, 2006 by Sommers