OK, Tacha don't have a heart attack here but I have been watching most of this for a bit here and Gary Ulmer and I talked about it at some length today. We have seen and coached or wrestled against pretty much all of these teams since the mid 60's. (well Gary since 1940) and we sort of have a feel for it historically at least over that time period. We felt like the 1966 Norton team (God it gags me to say that lol) and that Ark City team with (and I am relying on memory here and Beeson will help me I think) Hernandez, Beeson, young Ware, Goodale, and the rest of those boys were maybe the two best teams we have seen in that time period. The Beloit and Kapaun teams were very good and this Goddard team would be right in there too but by a very narrow margin we settled on those teams as the best we had seen, coached against and wrestled against. Those Norton and Ark City teams had more all-time talent than any team we have seen in that time. I also think there were a couple of St. Francis teams in the 60's with all those Kellers, Walters, and Cooks that would be there as well but I can't pick the years. Now if you agree, it was my idea and if you violently disagree it was all Gary's idea lol.

wasn't the older bahm, travis there at that time too?

The 1991 team consisted of:

103 Brooks Travis 2x State Champ 1991 State Champion
112 Allen Hankins 3x State Champ 1991 Runner-up
119 Scott Goodale 3x State Champ 1991 State Champion
125 Raymon Riggs 2x state qualifier state placer senior year
130 Justin Ware 4x State Champ 1991 Undefeated State Champion
135 Brad Beeson state qualifier
140 Dustin Bahm 3x state placer 2x finalist 1991 3rd
145 Chad Moore 1991 state qualifier 3rd in 1992
152 Chad Beeson 3x State Champ 1991 State Champion
160 Chris Hernandez 3x State Champ 1991 Undefeated State Champion 5A Senior OW
171 Nathan Bennett 2x State placer 2nd in 1993, 3rd in 1994
189 David Schneider 2x state placer 1991 3rd, 1992 runner-up
HWT Chad Johnson

Team Score Ark City 192.5
Kapaun 95.5

dont forget one of those emporia teams either in the mid to late 80's, all those kaupan teams and obviously bishop carroll last year. nationally ranked in the top 20. any of those other teams get nationally ranked or did they even rank nationally back in those days.

95 Ark City Team had 5 champions 2 runner-ups and one 3rd place.

I grew up in Kansas, after being an assistant at OU, I served as a volunteer coach at Kapaun-Mt.Carmel under Duwane Miller from 1975-1978 before moving to Arizona. Now I'm back in Norman, but I think despite my long absence from the Kansas wrestling scene I can add a few things.

The Kapaun Grand State champs were good, but I'd have to go with Norton in 1962 with 4 state champs in a row.

138 - John Kent
145 - Tim Carroll
154 - Richard Wyatt
165 - Urban

Newton took 2nd that year with Bruce White, Al Martinez, and Glenn White at 103, 112, and 120 if my memory serves me correct.

My high school coach Bob Williams would talk about the St. Francis teams in the 1950s when they won 5 state championships in a row. He said they were so good that St. Francis ran two varsity teams that had their own dual meet and invitational tournament schedules. They wrestled off at each weight to see who went to the Northwest Kansas League tournament, and District.


This was when Kansas had only one class for wrestling.

Duwane Miller completely changed high school wrestling in my opinion at Kapaun-Mt.Carmel. With the Wichita Wrestling Club as a feeder program, and no one else in the City League having one, Kapaun ended Wichita Heights run of supremacy. After that wrestling exploded in the state of Kansas. More schools started wrestling programs on the periphery of Wichita. Today almost everyone has a feeder program.

When I was in high school 1960-1963 the northeast part of Kansas did not field teams competitive with the Northwest Kansas and Ark Valley leagues. Topeka Highland and Emporia were the only teams that produced wrestlers that competed for state titles.

After being in Arizona, I noticed that for 3 years in a row Beloit beat Kapaun at the state tournament. I called Duwane, and said do I need to come back to show you how to win state again? He said no, Beloit just has very good teams, we couldn't beat. Of course after that he ran off 5 state championships in a row.

Ark City certainly had some great teams. Scott Chenoweth, the head coach of Perry, Oklahoma told me that he was very impressed with Goddard's team this year after seeing them at the KC Metro Classic.

When Norton won with 4 champs there were only 12 weight classes. Tim Carroll was the uncle of Chuck Carroll who I helped coach to 2 state titles at 185.

Trivia question, how many Isernhagen brothers were there that wrestled at St. Francis. I was told 10 and that all won state championships. Fred and Glenn Isernhagen were the youngest and each won a state championship while I was in high school.

This Emporia High School team of 1988 was pretty good. Nine state placers in top 4.

145# Joey Kraft 1st 35-3
155# Galen Barger 1st 33-0
98# Jamie Winter 2nd 34-2
105# Keith Tabares 2nd 30-1
119# Jason Delgado 2nd 28-8
126# Ken Rodriguez 2nd 34-2
138# David Watts 3rd 32-5
112# Roman Cisneros 4th 32-5
185# Brian Dorathy 4th 34-3
167# Brian Richardson 29-8
132# Bob Gerleman 29-10

Teamwise --6-A STATE CHAMPIONS EMPORIA HIGH SCHOOL RANKED 24TH IN THE UNITED STATES!!

Emporia 166
Wichita South 100.5
Junction City 75.5
Derby 63
Garden City 63
Blue Valley N. 60.5

What Big Apple did not mention is the fact that in 1962 the entire state of Kansas competed for only 1 Team Title. There was no 6-A, 5-A, 4-A, and 3-2-1A or anything else. Just a True Kansas State Champion.

With that said, Norton had 4 State Champions (True State Champions) in 4 consecutive weight classes. They were known as the 4 horsemen.


138 - John Kent
145 - Tim Carroll
154 - Richard Wyatt
165 - Larry "Stub" Urban

I do not know how many weight classes there were in 1962. But I know that Norton had a huge % of the overall Champs. Having 4 champs out of maybe 12 weights. This was similar to a Grand State. Did any school have multiple state Champs at the Grand State in 75 or 76. I'm sure KMC did but do not have the results in front of me.

Tim Carroll's son or nephew Wrestled for KMC and was a state champion.

Richard Wyatt's son Shane was a 3 x State placer and State Champion for Norton at 185 lbs.

Richard Wyatt is also the Uncle of all of the Hahn's, who account for 7 yes, SEVEN STATE TITLE in Norton.

Another Uncle of the Hahn's is Evan Whitney, who was also a 2 x State Champ in 73 and 74, just missed the Grand State. Evan's son was a state medalist for Russell in the late 90's.

I could go on and on.

These guys were good

Only two Isernhagen brothers. Fred and Glen. Glen is a retired pastor and lives in St. Francis. My dad who has been watching wrestling for about 60 years, says Glen was one of the best wrestlers he ever saw. Only gave up 1 point his Sr year.