Monday, February 28, 2022
James created Black wrestling excellence at OSU
Courtesy of OSU Athletics OSU wrestler Joe James, was the heavyweight national champion in 1964.
Adam Engel Staff Reporter
When Joe James stepped into the wrestling room, he turned heads. Eyes were focused on a ripped, muscular body with towering height and a chiseled jawline. Everybody wanted to see James. James, OSU’s first Black wrestler, became the school’s first Black national champion in any sport with a heavyweight championship in 1964. His success opened opportunities for hundreds of Black wrestlers, especially in Oklahoma. He was a role model for many. An example of what can be accomplished as a Black wrestler. “I think he motivated a lot of people in Oklahoma,” Cowboy coach John Smith said. “That opportunity not only to be able to wrestle but that opportunity to be the best at something.” In the process of becoming an OSU great, he attracted with his skill and model physique. “There’s no question that Joe James in the
1960s was as exciting to watch I think for a lot of people as anyone since,” Smith said. In an interview with ABC after his win in 1964, James was reportedly told to remove his warmups — the only competitor to do so because the fans wanted to see his ripped torso. What was his weightlifting routine? It’s gotta be something crazy, right? “No, I just do push-ups and one-hand chinups,” James told ABC. The methods to obtain ultra-strength were all natural. It was the first thing people noticed. An extraordinary specimen to his teammates. “Joe had the widest shoulders and smallest waist of any athlete I have ever seen,” said Jack Brisco, James’ teammate at OSU, in a book titled “Wrestling Tough”. “He was about as cut as anyone who ever stepped onto the mat. He never lifted a weight in his life, back then.” Afterward, cultural success followed. James set the standard. Since 1964, OSU produced five Black national champions and many more All-Americans. “He wrestled like a giant and so a lot came after him,” Smith said. “A lot of great wrestlers came after him.” Names of Cowboy wrestling lore like Kenny Monday, Bobby Douglas and Daniel Cormier were all James’ successors. Black excellence within Cowboy wrestling extends to coaching, too. Three Division 1 head
wrestling coaches are black. Two are OSU graduates, Chris Pendleton (Oregon State) and Glen Lanham (Duke). Despite historical success, JaQuan Jackson is the only Black wrestler on Smith’s squad. Jordan Williams of Owasso, a highly touted class of 2022 prospect, will join Jackson in the fall as the two OSU Black wrestlers. Jackson, a redshirt junior from Florida, didn’t grow up under the influence of Monday, James and other Cowboy icons. “Honestly, the first one I can think of is Jordan Burroughs,” Jackson said. “He was actually like the first real wrestler that I saw.” But in Stillwater, Jackson feels he’s continuing to the legacy. “It raised the standards I had mentally going into it of following through that lineage of just being African American wrestler and being a part of this program,” he said. “It just made me want to do be better myself and show that I really deserve to be here.”
sports.ed@ocolly.com