Best Bigman in the clutch?

As we all know it is important to have a heavy weight you can count on in the last match during a dual or a tournament. I have seen several heavies win tournaments with victories in the last match. That being said, if you could choose a big man to wrap up your line up who would it be?

My choices are:
1st team
Jeff Boyle Norton- he pinned every opponent his senior year so you knew going in that he was probably going to score max team points.

2nd team
Michael Sprigg Norton- I believe Michael was one of the best big men in the clutch. I think his junior year his victory won norton the team title at state. I may be wrong, but I think he also won them several other tournaments during the year with the last match of the night.

Jerry Corner (Wichita West)

I agree that Jerry Corner should be on any list of great big men from the state of Kansas. Jerry was a 2X state champion.
His senior year he beat Jeff Schrieber from Heights in the finals at State to bring West High from behind and give them there first ever state wrestling championship.
Jerry went on and was a 3X All-American for Nebraska-Omaha.
However one of the most impressive matches I ever saw Jerry wrestle was in Oklahoma at the Oklahoma Gold Freestyle Duals. Jerry wrestled Kelly Gregg (3x Oklahoma St Champ, future OU and NFL football star)in the final match. Jerry needed a fall for Kansas to win. Jerry soufle'd (sp)Kelly straight over the top to his back, knocking him out for the fall and the Kansas win.
Archie Randall coached the Oklahoma team and they were in shock after watching Jerry beat Gregg.
Members of that team included Kenny Taylor, Paul Myers, Beau Vest, Bobby Lashley, Jason Warkentine, Jeremy Vath, Tommy Shaw, Chad Koop, and Scott Tremblay.

well, off subject, littler guys has to be donny altman for sure.

Big guys- Caleb Payne also might be a while back but locally ( lawrence) we had a heavy named kenny poverlein, like 3 yrs in a row we won the lhs/freestate dual becaus of a last match pin by him. he was pretty good in the clutch.

Not only did Sprigg win the final match of the 2004 state tournament to win it for Norton, he won it in OVERTIME.

Michael just finished his plebe year at West Point where he was their varsity heavyweight, I believe he has received some sort of Freshman All-American recognition.

Oh yeah, it was overtime against the DEFENDING STATE CHAMPION.

Can there be a better definition of a clutch performance?

A. State Team AND Individual titles on the line.

B. The opponent is the defending state champion.

C. The match is in overtime.

As Michael was quoted after the match: "I was going to be either the hero or the zero."

I think the Metro Classic this year had a series of big men performances that deserve mentioning in this topic. Here is Randy Hinderliter's account of the action:

"Team score was 10-22, Missouri’s biggest lead of the night.

DeSoto’s Neil Erisman is one of the finest young men I’ve had the privilege of meeting. It was that young man who was pitted against Blue Springs Jeff Bowman. This was a match up of State Champions, at 160 pounds. Erisman is arguably as disciplined of a takedown technician as we have in Kansas and he demonstrated that skill early. But Erisman is also a “grinding” rider. The final score of this match was not indicative of the dominance this Oklahoma State signee displayed. Erisman wins, 7-3 and closes the team score, to 13-22.

At 171 pounds we had 2-time State Champ, Nolan Kellerman from Lawrence versus Joe Henson from Platte County. Again in this bout we are reminded that this is a wrestling contest and that on any given evening, anyone can be beaten. For the first time tonight we had a real contrast in body and styles. The first period ended with a scoreless tie. The second started with Henson selecting bottom, a reversal by Henson, and an escape by Kellerman. The third started with Kellerman down and quickly earning the tying escape. With 47 seconds left Kellerman was trying for the takedown but it was earned by Henson who also scored 2-points on the near fall cradle. The Showme wins 2-6 and leads, 13-25.

Our second match at 171 pounds pitted Jimmy Stewart of Paola against Chris Brewer of Lee’s Summit West. State Champ, Jimmy Stewart was in control of this match from the beginning. But probably the move that impressed me the most was a standing “merkel” (side-by-side). It was Jimmy Stewart with the decisive major decision, 13-3. The team score closes to 17-25.


At 189 pounds we have Old Dominion signee and Holton product Jesse Strawn battling against Mitch Barnett from Liberty. In the first period, it was Strawn scoring the takedown and Barnett scoring the reversal. In the second, Missouri selected bottom and remained there for the entire period. In the third, Strawn reversed the starting position and trapped the Showme on his back for a 2-point near fall. The score was 6-2 and with 1.05 remaining Barnett worked for the escape. Strawn’s conditioning was fading and with 12 seconds left, Barnett scored a takedown but Jesse held on for the win. The team score was getting interesting, 20-25.

If Team Kansas had any hope, Olathe North’s Calen Born had to keep the momentum rolling. Calen has twice been a runner-up at the State tourney and his foe, Kyle Rose of Park Hill, was also a two-time runner-up. This match was probably the final match in one of their careers and one of them would go out a winner. The bout started with both battling but the period ended scoreless. Born opted to wrestle from the bottom position and quickly worked the escape. Born opened up and scored a takedown and a 3-point near fall. The Kansas crowd was cheering and Calen acknowledged. Calen closed out the bout earning an 8-0 win. Team score, 23-25!

In 1994 with one bout remaining, the teams were tied at 24. Missouri won that dual with a pin at heavyweight.

In 2000, Kansas had the lead with the heavies to go. Missouri again won the bout and the match.

What would the result be this year? The match, the dual, and the hopes of the Sunflowers, were riding on the shoulders of a heavyweight from Ottawa.

Both sides of the gymnasium were riotous as the final combatants stepped into the ring. Team Missouri had Levi Thompson from Raymore-Peculiar. Team Kansas offered Levi Bowen from Ottawa. The pressure was intense. Whether they wanted it or not … they were in the limelight! Perhaps the pressure was too intense.

In the first period both wrestlers seemed to be tentative … not wanting to make a critical mistake. As the period was winding down, Bowen tried a toss, Thompson ended up on top but they were out-of-bounds … no score.

Thompson selected bottom and earned the critical first point in the bout. The wrestlers were battling for position as the second period ended.

It was Bowen’s choice and he opted down. Initially, the decision looked to be a mistake. Thompson threw in the legs, for the Cowboy or Surfboard and was working Bowen over. Bowen was warned for stalling about midway through the period but Thompson was getting high. Bowen earned a reversal after escaping out the back. But Thompson quickly scrambled to his feet to gain the tie. With 43 seconds left, Bowen got to Thompson’s body and cut the angle he gained control but they were out-of-bounds. Thompson was now avoiding the ties and gave up a stall warning. Regulation time ended.

Thompson left the mat circle to tend to some blood and perhaps didn’t ask for permission first. Several Kansas fans were pleading the case to win the match on that infraction. I, and a few others, didn’t want to win the bout that way.

Overtime began, the Kansans were on their feet, and the Showme’s were on theirs. The Kansas chant of Bowen, Bowen, Bowen was deafening. Bowen was digging for under hooks and Thompson was backing out. Restart. Bowen still digging, the fans were chanting, Bowen gets to the body, gains an angle, and drives for the winning takedown.

Man, what a bout … what a dual!"

The big boys really came thru in the clutch for Kansas in the Metro this year and ended Missouri's streak of victories in this event. Great job to all of Kansas wrestlers in the Metro this year and especially to these big boys who came thru in the clutch.

I'm with Twink on this one - Boyle, can't argue with an all pin season but as did Twink I go back to my roots for my 2nd team pick.. Les Miller, Ark City 1983 state champ - probably didn't pin everyone but definitely cleaned up the mat at the end of a tourney or dual. Not to mention a terror on the football field with stints at New Orleans and Carolina.

duane zlatnik

Eddy, Les also won GRAND STATE. Beat the guy in the finals that beat him at regular state.

1998 I remember Norton having a super tiny HWT...and that kid could pull off some great things. Only weighed like 190.

'98 would have been Rusty Miller from Norton. He never wrestled a varsity match until his senior year, and won state that year. He probably went about 220 or 230 that year.

Baldwin had a State Champ heavyweight named Hinton that might have gone 200#'s dripping wet!

Rusty Miller weighed around 210.

back in the day the best big men that i have ever seen was Andre McDaniel from Concordia and
Jeff Heiman and his brother Jay both of Beloit

Actually Rusty Miller wrestled Hwt. in 1998 while only weighing about 205 lbs. He lost the ranking match to Shawn Smiley at 215 lbs. and decided to go up to Hwt. for the rest of the season. Good choice in the long run. Rusty won a State Title at 275 lbs., and Shawn Smiley was the state Runner-up at 215. The team finished 2nd in State only 2 pts. away from Hoxie. (Keep in mind, this was the year after The Bluejays big men Boyle & Kellerman graduated and nobody had ever heard of Miller or Smiley. But they were waiting in the stable.

steve chewy carter emporia high in the early 80'S the only man that beat him .was ruther who ended up in the NFL.

My vote goes for FatPat, who as we all know, defeated/squashed underdog SkinnyBenny at the 2002 Beloit Invitational.

Just an unbelievable performance. It will be showing on ESPN Classic on August 28th at 4:00 pm CST.

we should probably make t-shirts for the lucky people who were there at that hilarious match in Beloit that year. in related news, a couple weeks ago i drove through the town in which FatPat resided and was disappointed not to see some sort of sign at the city limits that said how proud Stockton was of their favourite son.

come on guys, call city hall and demand that one be put up.

What is even funnier is that FatBat (aka Pamon Darker) picked Skinny Benny to beat FatPat which as we all know is a huge break in fat-man ettiquette.