Happened in the Olympics. Chris Taylor is the big guy. Won a Bronze medal that year in freestyle (some would say he got screwed pretty bad out of the championship bout). Pretty sure that pic is in Greco. There are lots of stories about Chris I’m sure others could share. Had a relative that was at ISU when Chris was there so heard some of them.
Coolest athlete photo: Iowa State Edition
- Thread starter CloneGuy8
- Start date
Who's the guy who is tossing him? Also, was this the heavyweight class? How is he wrestling someone 1/3 his size?
Historically speaking, this was pretty significant.
Wilfried Dietrich - Wikipedia
There was a super HWT division (100+ kg). And yes, this was Greco (not freestyle).
Wilfried Dietrich - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
There was a super HWT division (100+ kg). And yes, this was Greco (not freestyle).
Good lord. Taylor was 436 lbs against Dietrich's 260 lb
My parents (both alums) shared stories about Taylor during their time on campus (which mirrored his time there). If you are interested in learning more about him, I would google his name - fair amount out there even though he has been gone for over 40 years (due to this size, he didn't live much longer post college). Some things that my parents shared with me (please call me out if you have different info).....
- In college, he wrestled in an unlimited class (which doesn't exist today) and you could be as heavy as you want.
- Besides just being "big"(both in weight and height (for a wrestler), he was extremely nimble and had great footwork / balance and was very athletic for his size.
- Given his size, they weighed him on one of the livestock scales (probably over in Kildee somewhere).
- My parents also shared that he would drink pitchers of beer like we would drink cans (think of the Andre the Giant
stories that exist out there but perhaps on a smaller scale).
- Often times at a meet, they would sit Chris (the biggest on the team) right next to the smallest weight class wrestler, as a psychological ploy for their opponents.
- I have heard that Chris was the only person on the team that Dan Gable couldn't beat. I also heard on here that they trained together frequently. I believe there is a Youtube video out there where Dan speaks at Chris' wrestling hall of fame induction.
- There is a great picture of him out there on the internet of him on a beach standing alongside Andre the Giant which
gives you some perspective on how big Andre was (Chris briefly wrestled professionally post college).
Taylor was screwed in both of his losses, Freestyle ref was kicked out of the olympics after he admitted he awarded a point against Taylor because he felt sorry for the other guy. And Dietrich actually pinned himself first, touch fall in Greco.
I can vouch to all of the above plus:
- Chris was a gentle giant away from the mat, one of the nicest guys you could meet. Saw him "warming up" for his upcoming match by playing with a little kid and his yoyo.
- Tried to help promote the relatively new ISU hockey team by playing broomball with the cheerleaders in between periods. BTW, he was in a short sleeve shirt and he didn't even wear coats in the winter.
- Was a junior college transfer who came to ISU because he wanted to learn to wrestle properly not just use his weight advantage. He would take only one towel in the locker room and he would sit in a coach-class airline seat so that he would be treated like his teammates.
- Tried to join Johnny Majors' football team but couldn't play because they couldn't find a large enough helmet. Keith Krepfle (played TE for six years in the NFL) put on Chris' shoulder pads and could not keep them up on both shoulders. Majors said he had fantastic side-to-side quickness, great for pass blocking but could use a little work on straight-ahead run blocking. The experiment lasted about two weeks.
I like how he didn’t want favoritism, but imagine getting the seat next to him in coach. Basically go sit in the bathroom the whole flight to have more room.
Chris was THE nicest guy ever. I've attached a link here that our resident historian did on him as well:
Kagavi Writeup on Chris
" Despite his incredible heft, Taylor moved lightly on his feet and attracted the attention of ISU football coaches. Their plan to put Taylor on the line was scuttled when a big enough helmet couldn’t be found."
I'd hate to be the bar that him and Andre would show up to. Nobody else would have anything to drink.
Another cool Cato shot, better res than the one I posted earlier.
