Hodge beat the best of his era to take his place among all-time mat greats

Immediately after graduating from Perry High School in 1951, Dan Hodge served in the U.S. Navy for two years, continuing his wrestling career while in the service. (He wrestled freestyle at the 1952 Helinski Olympics.) After his service was up, Northwestern University tried to recruit him to wrestle for the Wildcats… but University of Oklahoma head coach Port Robertson was able appeal to the Oklahoma native's roots, and signed him up as a Sooner. (Oklahoma was one of the top college mat programs of the 1950s and early 60s.)Born in 1932, Daniel Allen Hodge grew up in Perry, Okla. After his mother was seriously injured in a house fire, Hodge was sent to live with his grandfather, who physically beat him regularly… so Hodge ran away to live in the Perry firehouse where he did chores to earn his keep. Hodge took up wrestling in high school, and won the Oklahoma high school state title at 165 pounds for the Perry Maroons as a senior in 1951.Photo shows Hodge’s senior portrait from the yearbook.Dan Hodge was THE dominant college wrestler of the 1950s… and one of the all-time greats. Wrestling for the Oklahoma Sooners at 177 pounds from 1955-1957, Hodge never lost a match, compiling a perfect 46-0 record. Even more impressive, he never had an opponent score an offensive point on him. In fact, three out of four of his college matches ended in a fall, which earned him the nicknames “Dangerous Dan” and “Homicide Hodge.” Even modern mat fans recognize Hodge as one of the toughest, strongest wrestlers ever, having seen him crush apples and pliers on NCAA broadcasts on ESPN), and as the namesake for the Hodge Trophy, presented by WIN (Wrestling Insider Newsmagazine) each year to the top collegiate wrestler in the nation. Why aren’t these guys wearing singlets? In this album you’ll note that Hodge and his opponents are stripped to the waist. Back in the 1950s, wrestlers at a number of major college programs competed in trunks and tights, without shirts. Bare-chested wrestling was banned by the NCAA in the mid-1960s; the NCAA OK’d today’s singlets in the late 1960s.View the list »
One of the all-time greats, Oklahoma's Dan Hodge (arm raised in victory) took on the top wrestlers of his era, including past NCAA champ Jim Gregson of Oklahoma State (back visible)

College Sports newsletter

Related topics

Advertisement

When a college wrestler is up for consideration as an all-time great, one question immediately comes to mind: What kind of competition did he face?

In the case of Dan Hodge, the legendary University of Oklahoma mat champ who compiled a perfect 46-0 record in the mid-1950s, the answer is... he defeated some of the top mat studs in the 177-pound weight class. Guys who won conference and NCAA titles.

Among Hodge's accomplishments as a Sooner: Three-time Big Seven (now Big 12) conference champ... three-time NCAA champ (1955-1957)... two-time NCAA Outstanding Wrestler award winner (1956, 1957)... and the only wrestler to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine as a wrestler.

Hodge was also known as a prolific pinner. He gained 36 of his 46 wins by fall, for a pin percentage of 78%, which still ranks among the all-time highest in NCAA history.

Hodge is one old-school wrestler who is known and respected even by young fans. The now 80-year-old Hodge still makes appearances at major amateur wrestling events, and has been shown on ESPN's broadcasts of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, demonstrating his grip strength by crushing apples, peaches and pliers.

In addition, the Sooner mat legend's name graces the Hodge Trophy, presented each year by WIN (Wrestling Insider Newsmagazine) to the top college wrestler in the nation. (Just last week, Cornell's Kyle Dake was named winner of the 2013 Hodge.)

Now, to learn more about Dan Allen Hodge -- and meet some of the mat greats he beat in college -- click on the list link below...

Read the Sports Illustrated story: The 1957 Hodge cover story is now available online, thanks to the SI Vault.

Want to know more... about Hodge? To read more about Dan Hodge and the trophy that bears his name, check out articles on the subject from College Wrestling Examiner. And for photos and info on "Dangerous Dan" -- including a gallery of Hodge Trophy winners -- visit Fans of Dan Hodge Yahoo group.

Want to know more... about the 2013 NCAAs? Get the inside story on the 2013 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships with complete final brackets and team standings. For a look back, check out College Wrestling Examiner's exclusive "Mat Bracketology" series of weight-by-weight previews... along with all College Wrestling Examiner articles on the 2013 NCAAs.

For big-picture overall recaps and results, check out articles at College Wrestling Examiner.. InterMat... and TheMat.com.

Hold onto that winning March "Matness" feeling! Take a look back at the 2013 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships -- and keep up with the latest news in the sport year round -- by clicking the "sign up" button at the top of the page -- or click on the Twitter link below -- to make sure you don't miss a single article from College Wrestling Examiner, winner of Amateur Wrestling News' Dellinger Award as wrestling writer of 2011. It's absolutely FREE!

Resources

College Wrestling 101: Links to College Wrestling Examiner articles answering basic questions about wrestling, including rules, scoring, uniforms, more

Follow College Wrestling Examiner Mark Palmer on Twitter

View the list
  • Dan Hodge was THE dominant college wrestler of the 1950s… and one of the all-time greats. Wrestling for the Oklahoma Sooners at 177 pounds from 1955-1957, Hodge never lost a match, compiling a perfect 46-0 record. Even more impressive, he never had an opponent score an offensive point on him. In fact, three out of four of his college matches ended in a fall, which earned him the nicknames “Dangerous Dan” and “Homicide Hodge.” Even modern mat fans recognize Hodge as one of the toughest, strongest wrestlers ever, having seen him crush apples and pliers on NCAA broadcasts on ESPN), and as the namesake for the Hodge Trophy, presented by WIN (Wrestling Insider Newsmagazine) each year to the top collegiate wrestler in the nation. Why aren’t these guys wearing singlets? In this album you’ll note that Hodge and his opponents are stripped to the waist. Back in the 1950s, wrestlers at a number of major college programs competed in trunks and tights, without shirts. Bare-chested wrestling was banned by the NCAA in the mid-1960s; the NCAA OK’d today’s singlets in the late 1960s.
  • Born in 1932, Daniel Allen Hodge grew up in Perry, Okla. After his mother was seriously injured in a house fire, Hodge was sent to live with his grandfather, who physically beat him regularly… so Hodge ran away to live in the Perry firehouse where he did chores to earn his keep. Hodge took up wrestling in high school, and won the Oklahoma high school state title at 165 pounds for the Perry Maroons as a senior in 1951.Photo shows Hodge’s senior portrait from the yearbook.
  • Immediately after graduating from Perry High School in 1951, Dan Hodge served in the U.S. Navy for two years, continuing his wrestling career while in the service. (He wrestled freestyle at the 1952 Helinski Olympics.) After his service was up, Northwestern University tried to recruit him to wrestle for the Wildcats… but University of Oklahoma head coach Port Robertson was able appeal to the Oklahoma native's roots, and signed him up as a Sooner. (Oklahoma was one of the top college mat programs of the 1950s and early 60s.)
  • In his three seasons wrestling at Oklahoma (back then, NCAA rules prohibited freshmen from wrestling varsity), Hodge compiled a perfect 46-0 record. Of those wins, 36 were by fall, for a pinning percentage of 78%, one of the all-time highest in NCAA history.  He is also one of only two three-time NCAA champs to have won all three title matches by pin (the other being Oklahoma State heavyweight Earl McCready, 1928-30).In this photo, Hodge is about to put an unidentified opponent’s shoulders to the mat. (It could be his opponent in a U.S. vs. Japan college-style dual meet Hodge participated in during college.)
  • During his college wrestling career, Dan Hodge was a man among boys (so to speak), in more ways than one. In addition to his dominance of the 177-pound weight class in the mid 1950s, Hodge was older than most of his college mat rivals, competing as a Sooner from age 23-25. What's more, Dan was very much a family guy, having married his high school sweetheart Delores right after graduation. The Hodges started a family right away, including first-born son Dan, Jr., shown here with his father in a great photo from an issue of Amateur Wrestling News of the era. Now, let’s meet some of the top college wrestlers Dan Hodge went up against as a Sooner…
  • The Bedlam Series between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State is one of the all-time great college wrestling rivalries. The Sooners and Cowboys face off against each other twice a season.In Dan Hodge’s first appearance at the first Bedlam dual meet of the 1955 season, the untested sophomore found himself wrestling Ned Blass, the two-time NCAA champ (1953, 1954) for Oklahoma State who was Oklahoma high school heavyweight state champ the same year Hodge won the 165-pound title...Photo shows Blass with Art Griffith, Cowboy head coach from 1940-1956.
  • In one of his first official matches as a Sooner, Dan Hodge tamed two-time champ Ned Blass of cross-state rival Oklahoma State in the first of two Bedlam Series dual meets between the two schools. In the OU-OSU dual meet held at Oklahoma in January 1955, Hodge, face visible, attempts to put the Cowboy star onto his back. There was no fall, but the sophomore Hodge defeated Blass, 8-3. It was Blass' only loss his senior year... and one of only three in his collegiate career.The Hodge-Blass bout was the last time the two met on the mat in college; Oklahoma State sent others in against Hodge for future Bedlam duals.Hodge in the 1955 NCAA finals: At the nationals at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., Hodge pinned Penn State’s Joe Krufka, a former Navy wrestling teammate, at 4:23 of the finals to claim his first of three NCAA crowns.
  • One of the wrestlers Oklahoma State put up to face Oklahoma’s Dan Hodge in Bedlam Series duals was Jim Gregson, who had won the 175-pound title for the Cowboys at the 1949 NCAAs… then served in the military for a number of years before returning to Oklahoma State for the 1955-1956 season as a senior.Photo of a square-shouldered, smiling Gregson from the 1950 NCAA Wrestling Championships program.
  • Dan Hodge and Jim Gregson met each other on the mat at the first of two Bedlam Series duals in January 1956 at Oklahoma State's Gallagher Hall. In a battle of two mat veterans (both well into their 20s), Gregson earned the distinction of being one of only a couple opponents to score on Hodge – in this case, an escape – but the Sooner junior defeated the Cowboy senior, 5-1.Photo from Amateur Wrestling News shows Hodge controlling Gregson.
  • In the last dual meet of the season in late February 1956, Dan Hodge and Jim Gregson tussled for a second time at the second Bedlam Series dual meet of the season. Again, Hodge failed to pin his Oklahoma State rival, but managed to shut out the Cowboy, 6-0. Gregson's only two regular-season losses as a senior were to Hodge.To provide another indicator of Gregson’s greatness… the 1949 NCAA 175-pound champ found himself in the 191-pound finals at the 1956 NCAAs. The Cowboy lost to Iowa’s Kenneth Leuer, but, earned a place in history for having the longest break between appearances in the NCAA finals (seven years).Want to know more about Jim Gregson? Check out this InterMat Rewind feature on the 1949 NCAA champ.This Amateur Wrestling News photo shows the straining muscles of Hodge (white trunks) and Gregson. 
  • Gary Kurdelmeier was one of the top wrestlers at the University of Iowa in the late 1950s. The hairy-chested Hawkeye was a teammate of fellow champs such as Terry McCann (who went on to win a gold medal in freestyle at the 1960 Rome Olympics) and Simon Roberts (the first African-American NCAA mat champ, 1957). Prior to coming to Iowa, Kurdelmeier was a two-time Iowa state champ from Cresco High School, one of the all-time great prep programs that produced legends like future Iowa State coach Harold Nichols and Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug.Photo of Kurdelmeier in his Iowa gear of the era -- black trunks, no tights, no shirt -- on display at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Okla.
  • Oklahoma’s Dan Hodge and Iowa’s Gary Kurdelmeier wrestled each other three times in college. Their first meeting on the mat was in January 1956 at the Iowa Field House.  In this photo, the Sooner junior is on top of Kurdelmeier; “Dangerous Dan” lived up to his nickname by pinning the powerfully-built Hawkeye sophomore moments later in his home gym.
  • Hodge and Kurdelmeier ran into each other for a second time, this time in the 177-pound semifinals of the 1956 NCAAs at Oklahoma State’s Gallagher Hall. The Sooner had pinned his way through his side of the bracket before meeting the Iowa matman… and continued to play the role of fall guy, putting Kurdelmeier’s shoulders to the mat at 4:36. (Kurdelmeier went on to place third at 177, earning All-American honors.)Hodge in the 1956 NCAA finals: After pinning Kurdelmeier in the semifinals, Hodge went on to face Roy Minter of Minnesota State-Mankato for the title. The Sooner made even shorter work of Minter, getting the fall at 1:37 to win his second straight title.
  • In 1957, Dan Hodge and Gary Kurdelmeier wrestled each other one last time in their collegiate careers. In a regular-season dual meet between Iowa and Oklahoma, the senior Sooner stuck the Hawkeye for the third time, as seen here in this photo (where all you see of Kurdelmeier is his back… and his black trunks).When asked years later about his matches with the Sooner mat champ, Kurdelmeier said, “When you knew you were wrestling Hodge, you didn’t get too many good nights’ sleep.”Kurdelmeier was no patsy. The eventual conference and national champ lost only a handful of bouts in his three years as an Iowa starter, including a dual-meet match to defending heavyweight champ Bob Norman of the University of Illinois. (Back then, it was legal to bump up a wrestler more than one weight class for one match.) 
  • Gary Kurdelmeier completed his collegiate career with the Hawkeyes by winning the 1957 Big Ten title, and the 1958 NCAA championship at 177 pounds as a senior. After graduating from Iowa, Kurdelmeier started his coaching career in high schools in his home state… then returned to his alma mater to serve as an assistant to his coach, Dave McCuskey. In 1972, Kurdelmeier was named head coach of the Hawkeyes, where he took the program to new heights, winning Big Ten and NCAA team titles. He also hired Iowa State mat champ Dan Gable as his assistant coach; when Kurdelmeier was promoted to an administrative position, Gable took the helm… and the rest is history.Want to know more about Gary Kurdelmeier? To learn more about the wrestler/coach who became the architect of the Iowa Hawkeye mat dynasty, check out this profile at InterMat Rewind.
  • Fresh from winning the Pacific Coast Conference championship, John Dustin of Oregon State found himself facing defending champ Dan Hodge in the semifinals of the 177-pound bracket at the 1957 NCAAs at the University of Pittsburgh. The top-seeded senior Hodge lived up to his reputation by pinning his way through the bracket at his last nationals… until he encountered Dustin in the semis. The Beaver put up a good fight, admitting years later that when Hodge had him in a pinning predicament, he screamed out in pain (“He was breaking me up” Dustin said in an interview decades later)… so the referee would stop the action. Hodge managed to win all but ten of his matches by pin; Dustin was one who went the distance with the Sooner. The final score: Hodge 8, Dustin 2.John Dustin will be welcomed into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as an Order of Merit honoree in summer 2013 for his contributions to the advancement of the sport.Hodge in the 1957 NCAA finals: In his last match of his college career, Hodge pinned Ron Flemming of Franklin & Marshall about halfway in the third period of their 177-pound title bout… winning his third consecutive NCAA championship.
  • Dan Hodge was twice named Outstanding Wrestler of the NCAA tournament – first as a junior in 1956, then as a senior at the 1957 NCAAs. This photo shows the Sooner cradling the OW trophy… while it showcases Hodge’s powerful chest and arms.Want to see more of Dan Allen Hodge? For tons of photos and info, check out the unofficial Fans of Dan Hodge Yahoo group.
  • Dan Hodge owns the distinction of being the only amateur wrestler to have been featured as an amateur wrestler on the cover of Sports Illustrated on April 1, 1957. (Definitely NOT an April Fools’ Day joke.)  No wrestler since has made the cover of the sports weekly – not Dan Gable, not John Smith, nor any other Olympic gold medalists… nor any of the four-time NCAA champs: Pat Smith, Cael Sanderson, or Kyle Dake.The cover story – tilted “The Man to Beat” – was written before Hodge won his third title. It provided readers with a behind-the-scenes perspective on the Sooner’s preparation for his last Bedlam Series bout at Oklahoma State… and what happened to his Cowboy rival, Jim Harding. To read about the article – and for a link to the SI profile – click here.What happened after college? After graduating from Oklahoma in 1957, Hodge launched a career in boxing… but then grew disgusted with the sport, and switched to professional wrestling, where he participated for nearly two decades until his career was cut short by a near-fatal car accident in 1976. Hodge continues to make appearances at amateur wrestling events, and has been featured on ESPN broadcasts of the NCAAs, demonstrating his tremendous grip-strength by crushing apples, peaches and pliers.
  • One lasting legacy of Dan Hodge's dominance as a wrestler is the Hodge Trophy, presented by WIN (Wrestling Insider Newsmagazine) and the sports promotion group Culture House each year to the best college wrestler in the nation. The most recent honoree: four-time NCAA champ Kyle Dake of Cornell, who was named winner of the 2013 Hodge in late March.Other wrestlers who have won the Hodge: Penn State's David Taylor in 2012 (shown here hoisting the Hodge), and his coach Cael Sanderson (a three-time winner, as an Iowa State wrestler)... eventual Olympians Kerry McCoy (now University of Maryland head coach), Oregon State champ Les Gutches, Northwestern's Jake Herbert, and Nebraska's Jordan Burroughs... and retired NFL New England Patriot and three-time Super Bowl winner Stephen Neal, two-time NCAA heavyweight champ at Cal State Bakersfield.For photos and info on Hodge Trophy winners, click here.
View the list
Suggested by the author:

, College Wrestling Examiner

Mark is a staff writer for InterMatWrestle.com, as well as Wrestling USA, Amateur Wrestling News, and The Guillotine magazines, and has contributed to the books "Family Ties: An American Wrestling Tradition" and "The Ultimate Guide to Wrestling Camps." Mark received the Bob Dellinger Award from...

Advertisement

Today's top buzz...