McCallie-Baylor Storied Rivalry

[bbb]

If the walls of Baylor School’s Duke Arena could talk, the stories would be of epic proportions.

 

Not only witnessing the myriad of McCallie-Baylor wrestling duals – the 84th edition is tonight at 6 p.m. – but Mid South and state tournaments as well.

 

Teenagers – albeit, young kids – have walked through those gym doors of Duke Arena, originally known as Memorial Gym, for baptism by fire in their first rivalry match and later that night left as legends of the rivalry, heroes to many.

 

Few events in one athletic life can compare; middle of the mat, legalized hand-to-hand combat with one who was a friend and neighbor before the opening whistle, but then the opposing warrior.

 

No one is rescuing you out of this mess. Not mom nor dad. No girl friends, no coaches. It’s all or nothing.

 

Tonight it’s top-ranked and favored Baylor hosting No. 6 McCallie .

 

Baylor leads the long series, 43-40, and has won the past three.

 

McCallie’s first ever win in 1951 in Baylor’s Duke Arena, then known as Memorial Gym to Baylor’s dramatic 25-18 triumph in 1969 to stop a long nearly four-year Blue Tornado win streak to 2009 and a 43-25 triumph for No.1 Baylor.

 

Past combatants with a few extra pounds and some gray hair will be there to analyze and pay tribute to the current stars and reminisce and re-tell old war stories with friends from both sides of the red and blue line before the first match and long after the final whistle.

 

The spotlight goes from the greats of the past – Baylor’s Bobby Goodloe, Alex Roberts, Marc Lyle and Jordan Leen, and McCallie’s Eddie Fisher, Pat Smartt, Lou Hudson and David Vance – to today’s warriors; Baylor’s Zach Watson, Alec Manley and Stuart Doster and McCallie’s Michael Hooker, T.J. Duncan and Chase Martino.

 

Among the standing room only crowd tonight will be the fresh-faced seventh grader who hopes to one day wear the varsity singlet and who has listened intently since pre-school days to the recaps of the epic battles told at the dinner tables from Lookout to Signal to Hixson and beyond.

 

Today’s young teens will one day themselves be holding court at their own dinner tables with their own kids and neighbors.

 

Or the new ninth grade boarders whose only exposure to date to the squared circle has been Monday Night Raw, Vince McMahan or MMA.

 

Convinced by teachers and friends that Friday’s ticket gains them access to the Super Bowl of local high school wrestling, and after cheering and chanting, tossing and turning and finding themselves wrestling each match to its conclusion – 14 all total - these first timers are hooked for life.

 

And making that call home after dinner attempting to paint the verbal picture of what's all the fuss surrounding a McCallie-Baylor wrestling match, even though the meaning of “cross body ride, don’t give up the takedown and shoot the half†need to be intently reviewed as much as mastering the conjugation of verbs in first year Latin before the quiz on Monday.

 

Six McCallie Baylor Matches Between the Walls of Duke Arena

 

Jan. 18, 1951

McCallie 30, Baylor 18 … McCallie’s first win in the rivalry since it’s first varsity wrestling team in 1946 … the teams split the first six weights with the match tied at 13-13 … but McCallie wins five of the final six matches for the victory … McCallie senior captain and two-time defending Mid South champ Eddie Fisher, a varsity wrestler for six years, is victorious at 157.

 

Jan. 16, 1959

McCallie 29, Baylor 13 … Baylor enters the match as defending Mid South champs and winners of three of the previous four duals … at 100 pounds, two ninth graders named Phil Greek and Moe Trail are up first … Greek wins, 6-2, and captures a Mid South title in Feb. ... both will win state titles as seniors in 1962 and wrestle in college; Greek at Ga. Tech and Trail at Purdue.

 

Feb. 7, 1969

Baylor 25, McCallie 18 … Baylor ends McCallie’s 44-match win streak … McCallie has a 16-9 lead on strength of wins by Sandy Rudolph, Johnny Harbor, Robert Cotter and Don Kent … but Baylor wins four of the last five for the victory … in epic match, Rob Healy rallies to beat Steve Gross, 7-4, at 167 … Baylor’s Paul Thompson and Lincoln Fuge win the final two matches … Prior to this match, McCallie’s last loss was a 20-18 setback at Red Bank, Dec. 1965 … Baylor wins Mid South tourney a couple of weeks later.

 

Jan. 24, 2003

McCallie 32, Baylor 21 … Big Blue ends Baylor’s seven-match win streak … Starting at 130, McCallie wins first eight weights for 29-0 advantage … individual winners are all current or future state champs; Justin Blair, Lee Connell, Spencer Manley, Ryan Scott and Andrew Smith … McCallie wins state duals in Feb.

 

Jan. 26, 2007

Baylor 34, McCallie 27 … McCallie leads 18-15 after a regular decision by Will Adenijii at 215 pounds, but Baylor re-gains the lead for good in the next match on a pin by McClain Still … The Red Raider victory is secured when ninth grader Trey Stavrum gains a last second escape to defeat eighth grader and former Baylor student T.J. Duncan, 10-9 at 119.

 

Jan. 23, 2009

Baylor 43, McCallie 25 … Starting at 171, No.1 Baylor wins the first four weights – Mac Ferguson (major decision), David Helton (pin), John Mackey (major dec.) Tyler Watson (pin) – for a 20-0 lead before McCallie gets on the board with a pin by Alex Ward at 103… Chase Martino also has a pin the men in blue.

Tonight’s Possible Lineup

 

103:Adam Connell (McC) over Cole Holloway

112: John Eady (Bay) over Alex Elsea

119: Brandon Brunner (Bay) over Matthes Boyd

125: Zach Watson (Bay) over Alex Ward

130: Bennett Reece (Bay) over Tim Westbrooks

135: Alex Manley (Bay) over Alex Kent

140: Stuart Doster (Bay) over Cory Cobb

145: Michael Hooker (McC) over Bryson Popp

152: Matthew Cate (Bay) over Daniel McClure

160: T.J. Duncan (McC) over Spencer Craig

171: Chase Martino (McC) over Matt Bodine

189: Jake Anderson (McC) over Nic Bullard

215: Bryan Starnes (Bay)over Casey Cook

285: John Mackey (Bay) over Tye Youngblood

 

contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net

Edited January 28, 2011 by bbb

[ynotme]

Great article! Nobody comes close to Mr. Branton's wrestling articles.

[memphiswrestling171]

Will this be on website to watch

[bbb]

Will this be on website to watch

Baylor IT folks are working on it but as of noon ..no word

 

Duke Arena is no wired so they are attempting to have a wi-fi connection.

 

b.b.b.

[Chattcity]

Triple bbb

 

Are those your predictions? Have you already had a vision of the matches?

[Wrestle90]

Triple bbb

 

Are those your predictions? Have you already had a vision of the matches?

Yeah... isn't a journalist supposed to be impartial!?

 

That should have been a line-up, not a prediction of who's going to win over who.

[bbb]

Triple bbb

 

Are those your predictions? Have you already had a vision of the matches?

 

 

that's my take on the match .. lineups could change at weigh-ins.

 

Baylor wins 9-5 ...

[2blLeg]

Yeah... isn't a journalist supposed to be impartial!?

 

That should have been a line-up, not a prediction of who's going to win over who.

 

Since when has journalism been impartial? Maybe it should be, but in this country it rarely is.

[memphiswrestling171]

I think mccallie will bump everyone up until 189

[ghouse]

Any news as to whether or not they will get the webcast working?

 

Was hoping to watch what should be a pretty good match tonight.

[2blLeg]

Any news as to whether or not they will get the webcast working?

 

Was hoping to watch what should be a pretty good match tonight.

 

bump