1938: Wrestling

Wrestling, on the downgrade as a professional sport for several years, remains in a disorganized state, due to warring factions in its ranks and lack of official recognition of its outstanding performers. Not only has the New York State Athletic Commission refused to sanction its so-called championship contests, but the sport has met with disfavor by spectators as well. Champions and contenders have set themselves up as title holders of various states and cities, without popular approval, the result being that the sport has been reduced to a minor attraction, although a few of the large cities are trying to revive its past glories.

Amateur wrestling is thriving under the jurisdiction of the A.A.U. and in many of the universities and colleges, Y.M.C.A. and athletic clubs. These events have been well attended and the enthusiastic approval of the spectators is recognized. The wrestlers of Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, perennial tournament winners, captured the national A.A.U. championships team trophy with 22 points during the annual fixture at Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pa. One hundred and fifty of the leading college wrestlers in the United States competed in nearly three hundred bouts. Francis Millard, of North Adams, Mass., Y.M.C.A., after winning the 134-lb. title, was voted the outstanding wrestler in the tourney and was presented with a gold watch. In the N.C.A.A. championships, individual titles were retained by McDaniels, 118 lb., and Henson 155 lb., both of Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College; and in the Eastern Intercollegiate championships, Powers, of Princeton, 155 lb., kept his title.