EDMOND – The University of Central Oklahoma is reviewing all of its 20 national championship teams and this week's Friday Feature focuses on the 1980-81 wrestling team, which won the program its second national title.
What was evident in Hamilton Field House, March 1981 – Central put on one of the most dominating performances in the sports history – still holds true today nearly 40 years later. The Bronchos won the national title with ease, scoring 155 1/4 team points. That mark was 69 1/2 points more than the national runner-up. But what still makes that performance so great was how Central got that many points.
The Bronchos had six individual national champions that day.
Six!
No other school in the history of collegiate wrestling has ever put a team on a mat and produced the same result. Many teams have had five national champs. That was the record before Central had six. And teams have had five since. But no other team has ever duplicated what the Bronchos did that day.
Dennis Kendrick (118 pounds), Todd Osborn (126), Ronnie James (134), Alan Maddox (142), Benny Coleman (167), and Bill Ameen (177) all won national titles. Central also had two other national qualifiers earn All-American recognition alongside the champs. Will Allen (158) and Ronnie Hawkins (190) finished fourth and eighth respectively.
In what also could be considered an astonishing achievement, Kendrick, Osborn, James, and Coleman were all freshmen that season. Ameen just a sophomore.
Central went 14-5 in dual meets that season, with the five losses coming to Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Kentucky, and a second loss to OSU. The Bronchos had notable wins over Missouri State, Tennessee Chattanooga, Central Florida, Adams State, Air Force, Brigham Young, and Indiana State.
Kendrick had a standout season. He went 4-0 in both the Sunshine Open (Orlando, Fla.) and the Lobo Open (Albuquerque, N.M.) to earn first place. Central took first as a team in both events too. In the dual season, Kendrick posted a 14-3-2 record including winning five matches by fall and two more by superior decision.
In the national tournament, Kendrick, seeded fourth, blew through the competition and even pinned the No. 1 seed in the quarterfinals on his way to a title. He won the championship bout 21-8.
Osborn also had a standout season. The 126-pounder went 4-0 in both the Sunshine Open and the Lobo Open to earn first place. He also went 6-1 in the Southern Open to finish third and 3-1 in the Southwest Missouri State Invitational, finishing second. During his dual slate, Osborn went 16-2-1 and had 10 bonus-point victories. One of his more notable victories includes toppling Gene Mills of Syracuse, who was a former Olympic team member.
In the national tournament, Osborn met former champ Scott Whirley and easily won in the finals 11-4. He was also named Outstanding Wrestler and NAIA Freshman of the Year.
James posted an 8-2 dual record with two major decisions and one fall. He went 4-0 in the Sunshine Open and 3-0 in the Lobo Open to take first place in both events. James won his title with after his opponent forfeit while trailing 4-2 in the championship match.
Maddox was the rare senior on the squad but made the most of his final opportunity with the Bronchos. He knocked off the No. 1 seed in the semifinals, 6-3, then won 12-7 in the finals to claim the championship.
Maddox went 19-11 overall on the year, posting a 10-6 dual record. He went 3-1 in the Sunshine Open to claim third there.
Coleman went 11-4 during the regular season and won 11 more matches in tournament competition. He took first at the Sunshine Open and the Lobo Open and third at the Southwest Missouri State Open.
Coleman however did have the most interesting route in the national tournament.
This from The Vista, Central's school newspaper:
… While most contestants wrestled five matches, Benny Coleman, a freshman from Choctaw, went through seven matches before gaining the title.
In the semi-finals Friday afternoon, Coleman, seeded eighth, had apparently defeated top seed Ken Beyer 7-6 in a match that ended in protest.
After a long meeting by a grievance committee, it was decided that the referees had erred in penalizing Coleman one point for stalling, with 10 seconds left in the match.
Because it was his third warning, Coleman should have been penalized two points, which would have tied the match. Because of the decision, a rematch was scheduled that night.
In the rematch, Coleman pinned Beyer 4:26 into the match, after building an 8-2 lead.
After all this, the finals seemed anti-climactic with Coleman using a three-point nearfall to clinch an 8-3 victory over Rick Diemert. …
Central's final champ, Ameen, won 13-1 in the championship match to claim his victory and give the Bronchos six national champions. Also seeded eighth, Ameen had to get through the No. 1 seed early in the tournament and did so with a 10-8 decision in the quarterfinals.
Central head coach Eddie Griffin won the second wrestling national championship for the Bronchos that day. He'd winner one more. The team would win 12 more after that. With 15 national championships just in the UCO wrestling room you'd think the debate would be stronger on which team was the best.
It's not.
