The Oklahoma State Cowboys rule Stillwater, and the wrestling team is largely responsible for creating this brand. This Oklahoma State brand is one of winning, of tradition, of legacy.
The sport of wrestling has a long and noble history. Charlemagne, William the Conqueror, and Peter the Great enjoyed and encouraged it. George Washington, Zachary Taylor, and Abraham Lincoln relished their wrestling victories. Oklahoma's Carl Albert also distinguished himself in the sport.
The Oklahoma State Cowboys wrestling team is the most successful NCAA Division I athletic program of all time in any sport. As of 2024-25, Oklahoma State wrestling has won 34 team NCAA national championships, 145 individual NCAA national championships, and 494 All-American honors.
The Cowboys have also won 56 conference titles, coming in the Southwest, Missouri Valley, Big Eight and Big 12 conferences.
Early Dominance: The Ed Gallagher Era
It all started in the year 1915 with the legendary head coach Ed Gallagher. In 1915 Ed led the team to Oklahoma States’ first NCAA wrestling championship and the first ever NCAA wrestling championship. Mr. Gallager led eleven different teams of OSU wrestling to win a national championship.
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The then-Aggies didn't waste any time in picking up their first title. In the inaugural version of the modern day NCAA tournament, Oklahoma A&M, now known as Oklahoma State, put four wrestlers on top of the podium and added one additional All-American, a performance that would come to define the program. A&M's Harold DeMarsh earned the distinction of becoming the first NCAA champion by beating Harold Higgins at 115 pounds.
After winning the first NCAA championship in 1929, the Aggies continued to add accolades to the program history books, winning the 1930 championship with four champs and two additional All-Americans. The tournament included team scores for the first time in 1929, and Oklahoma A&M took the definitive win by an eight-point margin over Michigan.
Another tournament, another title. Success seemed almost routine for the Aggies at this point in program history, as head coach Ed Gallagher put six more athletes on the podium with three of those All-Americans being champions. Earl McCready became the first three-time champ in program history when he took the heavyweight crown again, and Conrad Caldwell joined the list of two-timers with his win at 175 pounds.
The 1931 championship marked the fourth year in a row that Oklahoma A&M had not only won a title, but also crowned at least three NCAA champions. No other team in the country put more than one wrestler on top of the podium in 1931, while Robert Pearce, Leroy McGuirk, Jack VanBebber and Conrad Caldwell all took gold back to Stillwater.
The Aggies missed out on taking home the NCAA title in 1932, but they came back fighting in 1933 to push themselves back into first place, tying with Iowa for another national title.
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The 1934 championship progressed like many of the previous ones for the Aggies with Gallagher's team winning by ten points over second-place Indiana and four individual wrestlers winning gold. Rex Peery, Ross Flood and Alan Kelley all repeated as champs in their respective weight classes while Gordon Dupree added another All-American honor, this time joined by his teammate Frank Lewis. Lehigh's Ben Bishop earned Outstanding Wrestler honors at the tournament for his win over Lewis which came by fall.
The Aggies' streak of titles would end again after the 1935 championship, but Gallagher's team finished this particular year with another series of champions and All-Americans to add to the mystique and success of the program. Rex Peery and Ross Flood won their third titles, while Frank Lewis earned his first following his pin in the finals of the previous year's tournament. Flood also won Outstanding Wrestler honors for his performance and his pin in the 1935 championship.
1937 was the year of Stanley Henson. An Oklahoma native, Henson came out of the gates firing his first varsity season and wrapped up his sophomore year in the Black and Orange with an NCAA title, Outstanding Wrestler honors and a team title. He would go on to win two more titles as an Aggie, but in 1937, he was just starting to show the world what he was capable of.
The Aggies edged out a close win by four points in 1938 behind the championship performances from Stanley Henson, Joe McDaniel and Dave Scriven. And the team needed this win to continue what would become the program's longest winning streak in history. McDaniel picked up Outstanding Wrestler honors for his second title and set himself up to make a run at the 1942 Olympics before the Games were ultimately cancelled.
Oklahoma A&M's three champs in 1939 represented more than double the number of champs from any opposing team that season, a result that guided the Aggies to their tenth title by over twenty points. Stanley Henson and Joe McDaniel won their third titles that year, while John Harrell also added one. The 1939 season as a whole was a shorter one than most and included just six duals and a national tournament, all of which the Aggies won.
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But the year also marked a change for the Aggies that would carry though to the modern day: the naming of the home gym to honor head coach Ed Gallagher.
The 1930's were a special time for Oklahoma A&M with the Aggies winning all but one of the ten championships that decade.
The Ed Gallagher era at Oklahoma State came to an end in the most Ed Gallagher way possible: with a win. The Aggies beat Indiana by 10 points in a low-scoring affair in 1940 that saw Oklahoma A&M crown three champs and three additional All-Americans.
For a coach that never wrestled, Gallagher's 136-5-4 record with Oklahoma A&M, 11 team titles and 22 individual NCAA champions made him into a wrestling figure that the program would never forget. Oklahoma State's home arena, Gallagher-Iba Arena bears the name of this historic coach.
Continuing the Dynasty: Art Griffith and Beyond
The Aggies tradition and reputation of success came about because of the coaching success of Ed Gallagher, but in 1940, following Gallagher's tragic death, the program needed a new leader. Art Griffith stepped up to the role and proved that even under a new coach, the team could be just as successful.
Art Griffith was hired following Gallagher's death in 1940, after Oklahoma A&M looked to find a coach who could continue their winning tradition and hired Griffith, a longtime coach at Central High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 15 years, Griffith led Central High School to 94 wins in 100 matches, including 50 in a row at one point.
Griffith's first national tournament with his team resulted in gold with Alfred Whitehurst, David Arndt, Earl VanBebber and Virgil Smith taking home individual top honors and Calvin Mehlhorn, Dillard Talbutt and Loyd Arms also finishing in the top three as All-Americans. With eight place-winners, Oklahoma A&M topped Michigan State by 11 points while Whitehurst brought home Oustanding Wrestler honors.
Art Griffith showed the world in 1942 that his first title with the team was anything but a fluke, and he would continue to extend the Aggie winning tradition throughout his tenure with the program. In his second year as head coach, Griffith put four on top of the podium, including future three-time NCAA champion David Arndt, two-timer Vernon Logan, two-timer Virgil Smith and champ Loyd Arms. Sidney Marks and Dillard Talbutt also earned All-American honors, helping Oklahoma State beat Michigan State by just five points.
Nothing could stop Art Griffith's momentum. Not the graduation of star athletes, not World War II and not the dozens of teams trying to take down the Aggies. For the third time in a row, Griffith led his team to a championship, and he did so after three years of no wrestling given the war.
The Aggie wrestling program produced NCAA champions year after year after year, but the team also pushed forward its fair share of Olympians, and 1948 marked a particularly memorable year for Oklahoma A&M. Alums and current athletes Richard Hutton, William Jernigan and Hal Moore all represented the United States of America while Aggie head coach Art Griffith served as the coach and Cliff Keen worked as the manager for the Olympic team. The program also won another NCAA title in 1948 with Hutton and teammate Jack St. Clair winning individual titles.
The margin between Oklahoma A&M and Michigan was just five points that year, but five points was five points, and the Aggies were champs again, representing the program on the collegiate and international stage.
Art Griffith became particularly good with routine at Oklahoma A&M. He just kept winning. In 1949, the Aggies earned another NCAA title with a five-point team margin over Northern Iowa, crowing two champions and five additional All-Americans. Undefeated Outstanding Wrestler Charles Hetrick led the way for the Aggies with a 4-1 win in the finals over Leo Thomsen of Cornell while James Gregson won a title as well at 175 pounds. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the 1949 tournament was the loss by Richard Hutton, the man considered in Oklahoma State history to be "the cornerstone upon which coach Art Griffith rebuilt the Oklahoma State program when wrestling resumed after World War II." Hutton's loss in the 1949 NCAA finals proved to be the only loss of his college career, but placing second didn't keep Oklahoma State from winning the team title.
The Aggies’ 1954 championship restored normalcy to Stillwater as Art Griffith guided his club back to another championship after suffering a losing season in 1953 and also missing out on titles in 1950, 1951 and 1952. The team went undefeated in 1954 though and finished with three champs, including future three-time NCAA champion and future championship coach Myron Roderick. The win marked the start of a stellar career for Roderick, both as an athlete and coach for the Aggies.
In 1954, Art Griffith once again coached his team to a national championship, this time led by Myron Roderick and Fred Davis. Roderick won his second title in 1955 while Davis won his lone title and wrapped up his career as a three-time All-American. Dave Bowlin and Doug Blubaugh also finished in the top three for the Aggies. Despite having just four athletes on the podium, Griffith's team was ahead by nine points over Penn State for another winning year. The program's performance in 1955 suggested that the years they missed out on a title were flukey.
The 1956 season marked the end of an era for the Oklahoma A&M Aggies. Following their 19th national championship as a program, head coach Art Griffith retired after coaching the team to eight NCAA titles and coaching individual Cowboys to 27 individual titles, 64 All-American honors and a total dual record of 78-7-4.
Griffith's retirement wasn't the only change for the team though. In July 1957, several months after the NCAA tournament, the school name, Oklahoma A&M, was officially renamed Oklahoma State. The Cowboy became the official mascot, and the Aggies would be left in history.
Mryon Roderick needed just one year to find his footing as the head coach of his alma mater, but by 1958, he had put the team pack on top. Dick Beattie, a fellow Olympian with Roderick in 1956, won a title, as did Duane Murty, and six additional Cowboys finished on the podium. The 1958 title would be the first official title for Oklahoma State, and while the team name may have been new, the success was anything but. Roderick knew how to win after spending his career under the coaching leadership of Art Griffith, and his 1958 win made him the youngest head coach to ever win a title at the age of 23.
Myron Roderick won his first back-to-back national titles as a coach in 1959 when he guided the Cowboys to a 22-point win over Iowa State at the national championships for gold. Star athlete Dick Beattie won another gold while Ted Ellis also added a championship trophy to his collection.
Eight Cowboys ended up on the podium at the 1961 NCAA tournament, and all eight finished in the top four, with Phil Kinyon and Bob Johnson winning titles at 157 and 177 pounds. The team's winning ways started in the dual season when they laid the foundation for what would become an 84-match winning streak, the longest in NCAA history.
The 1961 championship marked Myron Roderick's third national title in four years as a head coach of the Cowboys, and his season came on the heels of a successful Olympic performance from two Cowboys in 1960. Both Doug Blubaugh and Shelby Wilson won gold in the Rome Games to become the fourth and fifth gold medal winners, respectively, for the Cowboys.
Two more Cowboys added their name to the list of program national champs in 1962 as Oklahoma State took down rival Oklahoma in the NCAA championships for first place by 37 points. Masaaki Hatta and Bob Johnson won their weight classes while Doug Wilson, Phil Kinyon, Ronnie Clinton, Mark McCracken and Joe James all finished in the top three.
When you think about wrestling greats in history and at Oklahoma State specifically, Yojiro Uetake cannot be ignored. His performances in his career and at the NCAA tournament made him an icon for the Cowboys, and in 1964, as a sophomore, he was laying the groundwork for what would become one of the most impressive college careers of all time.
Freshman were unable to compete during this time, but Yojiro Uetake won as many titles as possible during his time with the Cowboys. His win in 1964 came months before he would go on to win gold for Tokyo in the Olympics. The second Cowboy to win a title in 1964 also made history, as Joe James became the first Black wrestler to compete for Oklahoma State and the first B...
Tommy Chesbro would take over the program next, and program's dual success continued into the 1970s and 80s. However, the NCAA title dominance ended during this time. Chesbro only won one national title in 1971, in part because his tenure mostly coincided with the sudden rise of Iowa under Dan Gable.
Joe Seay became the head coach at Oklahoma State University following Chesbro, serving for seven years. Under his leadership, Oklahoma State won two more national titles in 1989 and 1990.
John Smith and the Modern Era
Current head coach John Smith is largely responsible for the modern success of the program, as he has coached 32 NCAA champions, 134 All-Americans, and 120 conference champions.
John Smith took over the Cowboy wrestling program in the wake of NCAA sanctions and probation left over from previous head coach Joe Seay. Smith's first season saw the Cowboys take second at the NCAA Championship, but his second season was crippled by the probation. The Pokes went 4-7 and were banned from post-season competition. But the next season, the Cowboys were back, as top wrestlers who had taken a redshirt year during the probation were back on the mat. Oklahoma State would boast a 13-1 regular season record and go on win the 30th national championship in program history at the 1994 NCAA Championship.
The middle part of the 1990s, however, saw the program grow somewhat stagnant, at least by Oklahoma State wrestling standards. Cowboy wrestlers were still winning individual titles and claiming All-American honors while the team was still winning Big Eight and Big 12 Conference crowns, but their team showings at Nationals were somewhat disappointing. Between 1995 and 2002, the Cowboys placed no better than second and finished third three times.
But in 2003, Oklahoma State would return to the top once again, winning the Big 12 tournament and NCAA national title and sporting a 17-0 record. It would be the first of four consecutive national championships in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006, firmly reestablishing Oklahoma State's dominance in the wrestling world. The Cowboys were at their peak from 2003 to 2006, when they sported a combined record of 55-2.
Oklahoma State wrestling has won a total of 34 national championships, including back-to-back titles from 1948-1949, 1958-1959, 1961- 1962, and 1989-1990 as well as consecutive titles from 1928-1931, 1933-1935, 1937-1946, 1954-1956 and 2003-2006.
David Taylor took over as coach for the 2024-25 season, marking his first year coaching at any level.
John Smith, current head coach of Oklahoma State Wrestling
Oklahoma State is tied with Iowa for the longest unbeaten win streak. Both teams have won or tied 84 duals in a row. The Cowboys are tied for sixth in consecutive national titles won across all sports. The Cowboys also crowned the first four-time NCAA champion in Pat Smith. The Cowboys have more individual NCAA champions than any program in history.
Oklahoma State wrestling has had 32 Olympians since 1924.
Oklahoma State wrestling is known for its consistent success in the annual Big 12 championship tournament. Home meets are held in the 13,611 seat Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater.
Gallagher-Iba Arena: Home of the Cowboys
The arena is named in part after Oklahoma State's legendary wrestling coach Edward C. Gallagher. Gallagher-Iba was known as Gallagher Hall for nearly five decades until the name was amended to honor former Oklahoma State basketball coach Henry Iba upon the facility's first renovation during the 1987-1988 season. Oklahoma State has held their home wrestling meets in the arena since its completion in 1938. The arena was formally dedicated on February 3, 1939, during a wrestling dual versus Indiana.