TDR AND BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Posted on | February 17, 2008 | No Comments
Takedown Radio will be live from the Brute Adidas Studios in Des Moines this week for a very special show as we salute our Black athletes and recognize Black History Month. We want to thank Lee Roy Smith, his staff and membership of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame & Museum in Stillwater for taking the lead on this project and for all their support.
This special is designed to share the story of the 50th anniversary of our first African American NCAA Champion and the 46 African Americans that have won NCAA Division I titles and the 34 that made Olympic Teams. This extraordinary success is the reason for celebrating and telling the story of African American success in wrestling – so that we can inspire future generations to follow in their footsteps by considering wrestling as a sport of choice
As we celebrate wrestling’s history and the athletes who participated it is important to explain that the founders of Black History Month, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History have as its theme this year – The Origins of Multiculturalism. We live today in a multicultural world but, how did we get here? For the most part, it has been because of the African American movement which opened the doors to what today has become a multicultural society.
This program will also be filmed and available for viewing on our partner sites Intermatwrestle.com, Matchannel.com and through the traveling exhibit of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame & Museum. The NWHF also has developed a The narrative for the overall Black History Month project. They will be publishing the entire narrative and bios on all African American NCAA Champions and Olympians in a booklet that will be available for purchase the end of February.
Guests on the show include:
In Studio-
* Bobby Douglas- Coaching legend with 429 dual meet wins to his credit. Former Iowa State head coach, as well as leading Arizona State to a NCAA title
* Dr. Jason Smith-a two-time NCAA champion at 167 pounds in 1969 and 1970 and a member of the Cyclone team champions for those seasons. He also finished third in 1968 and was a Big Eight champion in 1970.
# Mike Allen- Recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for Officials from the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and the first Black official to earn the award.
# Simon Roberts-First Black Iowa High School State Champion, holds Big Ten and NCAA titles.
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ON THE LIVE LINE
* Carl Adams-Three time NCAA All American, two time national champion, and current coach at Boston University.
* Chris Campbell-Two time NCAA Champion and Olympic Bronze Medal winner.
* Kevin Jackson- Olympic freestyle Gold Medal Winner
* Leroy Kemp-Three time NCAA Champion and three time World Champion
* Kerry McCoy-Two time NCAA Champion, Olympic Bronze Medal winner, and current Coach at Stanford
* Lloyd “Butch” Keaser- U.S. Marine Corps:1972-1977 5 Freestyle & 4 Greco Interservice Championship Gold
1972 Olympic Team 1st alternate to Dan Gable, 1973 Tiblisi tournament in U.S.S.R Bronze Medal
1973 National AAU Freestyle Champ, 1973 World Championship Gold in Teheran, Iran
1973 World Cup Gold in Toledo, Ohio 1973 U. S. Amateur Wrestling News Man of Year
1974 Tiblisi tournament in U.S.S.R Silver Medal 1975 Pan American Gold
1975 National AAU Greco Champ 1976 National AAU Freestyle Champ
Across this country youngsters are competing for state wrestling championships and we feel its an excellent time to share with our community just why we continue to enjoy this sport in the very basic sense. We are wrestling and yes, WRESTLING is us!