Takedown Artist

[countrypk]

Alright purely an opinanated question, but who was or possibly is the best takedown artist ever from middle TN?

 

 

Kevin Lenahan

[BuckLateral]

Kevin Lenahan

 

 

Wow, countrypk------you are dating yourself with that one.

 

Lenahan wrestled for Father Ryan in the 70s. Went on to be a standout wrestler and play football ( defensive end) for Sewanee-----graduated in '75 or'76. Kevin, who was not big----he was about 5-9/5-10 and wrestled in the 160-177 range at Sewanee as I recall------was maybe pound for pound the the strongest person I have ever met. Looked like a minotaur on the mat. Very strong legs and core. Super strong wrists and hands. If he latched on to you in a match, you were not getting away. Once in a football game I saw him sprawl and split a double team of the fullback and a guard who came at him together on a sweep by pushing the fullback to the left with his left hand and pushing the guard to the right with his right hand to get to a very surprised tailback that he leveled with what resembled a double leg, knocking the breath and the ball out of the ball carrier. When I asked him about that play, how he managed to do it, he had a one word answer: " wrestling". Kevin became an accomplished rugby player, went to a chiropratic school, and last I heard was playing rugby and practicing chiropratic medicine in the Virgin Islands.

[countrypk]

Wow, countrypk------you are dating yourself with that one.

 

Lenahan wrestled for Father Ryan in the 70s. Went on to be a standout wrestler and play football ( defensive end) for Sewanee-----graduated in '75 or'76. Kevin, who was not big----he was about 5-9/5-10 and wrestled in the 160-177 range at Sewanee as I recall------was maybe pound for pound the the strongest person I have ever met. Looked like a minotaur on the mat. Very strong legs and core. Super strong wrists and hands. If he latched on to you in a match, you were not getting away. Once in a football game I saw him sprawl and split a double team of the fullback and a guard who came at him together on a sweep by pushing the fullback to the left with his left hand and pushing the guard to the right with his right hand to get to a very surprised tailback that he leveled with what resembled a double leg, knocking the breath and the ball out of the ball carrier. When I asked him about that play, how he managed to do it, he had a one word answer: " wrestling". Kevin became an accomplished rugby player, went to a chiropratic school, and last I heard was playing rugby and practicing chiropratic medicine in the Virgin Islands.

 

 

His nickname at Sewanee was Leprechaun and it didn't have anything to do with school mascots. He graduated from FR in 1970 and from Sewanee in 1974. Kevin must have had 50" chest. No telling how far he could have gone with a decent high school education!

[BigHairyOwl]

MATT KELLER - BRADLEY THE BEST NO DOUBT! 4X STATE CHAMPION

 

DAVID MANG - BRADLEY 2ND BEST NO DOUBT! 3X STATE CHAMPION

 

CHRIS MULLIN - NOTRE DAME! 2X OUTSTANDING WRESTLER AWARD-2X STATE CHAMPION

 

JOHNNY LENNON - CLEVELAND! 2X STATE CHAMPION-FREAKING WILD MAN ON THE MAT!

 

ANY BETTER THAN THESE I'M MISSING OUT ON SOMETHING! THIS IS A GREAT TOPIC!

 

MAY NOT BE FROM MIDDLE TNBUT THESE ARE THE BEST ACROSS THE STATE!

[kdxdude]

David Mang is/was very good but he was not a 3X State Champion. I believe he was 6th as Freshman, 2nd as Soph. OT match with Jay Adamson, Alabama State Champ as Jr., Tn. State Champ as Sr.

 

He put on a takedown clinic against Clarksville at the State Duals his Soph. year.

[DAKEKO]

ADRIAN NORFLEET!!!!!!!!!! for some of you younger coaches and wrestlers , you wouldnt have had the pleasure of watching such a true natural athelete. if anyone has any pictures or video of adrian can u post them. he was such a physical speciman to look at as well, and a nice friend to those of us who knew him. /flower.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":flower:" border="0" alt="flower.gif" />

[BigHairyOwl]

David Mang is/was very good but he was not a 3X State Champion. I believe he was 6th as Freshman, 2nd as Soph. OT match with Jay Adamson, Alabama State Champ as Jr., Tn. State Champ as Sr.

 

He put on a takedown clinic against Clarksville at the State Duals his Soph. year.

 

i stand corrected. i do remember the adamson match. mang lost in overtime. still a great technician on his feet.

[dunningrg]

In my opinion it was Whitt Dunning from Ryan.

 

As his brother, I will say that whitt was the better wrestler on his feet with takedowns. And he is one of the best that I hae seen from his feet from Mid TN.

[tnko]

There are a lot of good names on the lists already mentioned, and not to knock any of them but Adrian Norfleet was the best ever Tennessee wrestler in takedowns and probably one of the top five Tennessee wrestlers ever. I wrestled with him for 4 years and he was incredible. Most of the time you didn't even know he was going to shoot. He was very accurate with his shots and extremely quick.

 

Alright CoachMick, I know you have some past videos of your old best friend and training partner. Post them on you tube and let all see!!!! /flower.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":flower:" border="0" alt="flower.gif" />

[rigger101]

There are a lot of good names on the lists already mentioned, and not to knock any of them but Adrian Norfleet was the best ever Tennessee wrestler in takedowns and probably one of the top five Tennessee wrestlers ever. I wrestled with him for 4 years and he was incredible. Most of the time you didn't even know he was going to shoot. He was very accurate with his shots and extremely quick.

 

Who coached those HL teams?

[PRTiii]

Matthew Gabrial from Indy last year, I had a few chances to watch this kid wrestle and, WOW, and I've talked to a few Independence guys, from what I've heard he racked up 315 takedowns last year.

 

And just like to throw out Seneca looked pretty good on his feet also, he's got a style kinda like David Mang, just not as well. /rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":rolleyes:" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />

 

PRT iii /flower.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":flower:" border="0" alt="flower.gif" />

[Hamm]

Who coached those HL teams?

 

 

That would be my former high school coach and one of my personal heros (along with Terry Riggins from East Literature (a quick shout out)): Coach Doug Newman

 

Thank God we never got to see that man in a singlet!!!!

 

Also, i cannot believe we are talking about takedown artist and no one has mentioned Tim Buchanan from Hunters Lane. This guy broke the National Takedown record somewhere between 93-96, i can't remember when. But all he ever did was take the guy down and cut 'em! Is there a criteria that you have to be a state champion? I mean, i strongly believe he would have been a state champ, but Tim Voiles from Lookout Valley now a Notre Dame coach, had a different opinion back in those days....