I was just wandering who everybody thought was the best big man to lace them up

Several have to be on that list. Austin from Kinsley, Lankas from Atwood, Doyle from Norton, Nave from Coffeyville, the kid from Ark City whos name I never can remember that played for the Chargers. In my mind, all those guys rank up there and I would hate to have to pick between them all. All cut like rocks, no fat men in that group, all great athletes who were multiple sports stars and most went on to NCAA and/or Pro careers in football. Quite a group really for one state to have.

Jeff Boyle from Norton was the B-E-S-T, pound for pound wrestler that I have seen in my 30+ years of following high school wrestling.

As a junior wrestling 215 he was the epitiome of a high school big man--quick, aggressive, technically superior in his knowledge, incredibly strong, with an unbelievable work ethic. As a senior at 275 he did not show as much of the wrestling skills that he had as his strength was such that he simply dominated his opponents physically. I will NEVER forget when he picked up the HWT from Minneapolis in the '97 finals and put in a half and crotch and then put him to the mat. Cody Parks, the Minneapolis HWT was a pretty darn good high school wrestler in his own right who went on to have great success at Fort Hays State University.

Also, I think Andrew Ubben of Phillipsburg who was a three time 3-2-1A state HWT champion should be added to the list of "others after Boyle." Ubben is having great success as Fort Hays this year as a freshman.

I also predict that Michael Sprigg of Norton will be one that is being talked about in future years.

Boyle's match in the '97 finals lasted 27 seconds.

See if you had been a little older you would have seen Austin and Lankis they were the original Boyle's. lol

Boyle hands down the best heavyweight. I dont think the old style of wrestlers could have matched up with Boyles awesome strenght and ability.

Actually the finals match for boyle and parks lasted 22 sec. just for your information

Les Miller from Ark City. Steve Nave and Les Miller were impressive HWT wrestlers in the early 80's. Les went on to play pro football.

lol you dont think Danny Lankis and Lon Austin were strong huh. They started right beside each other for three years at K-State at linebacker and Austin anchored a national record 880 yard relay team and was one of fastest big men in the history of the state of Kansas. Those "old time" guys used the same moves they do now and strong didnt get invented when Boyle came along.

Westfahl, While I agree Danny and Lon were great athletes, they were not the size of Boyle. If you remember, Lon wrestled 185 his Sr. year. Danny weighed 200-210. Boyle had them by 40 lbs at least and was just as strong if not stronger.

Lon wrestled HWT his senior year and won the state over Lankis in the finals. He weighed about 225 or 230 and Pickering wrestled 185 for us.

If size and strength are the criteria then Nave would have benched press the lot of them although I do not think he was as good as the three we are talking about here but close.

Westfahl, What year did Lon graduate? I thought he wrestled HWT his Jr. year and 185 his Sr year. Hunphrey won Hwt in 1965. Lon won it in 64 at HWT

I'd also include the Grieve brothers in the list. Larry was a 3-time state champ at HWT in the early 80's and his "little" brother was state champ at HWT his senior year and runner-up at 185 his junior year. Richard just grew a little slower than his brothers (Kenny was pretty good too), but in the end was an animal who may have been the best of the three.

I will look but I know lon beat humphrey a couple of times and never lost to him. Once was on a Granby roll with about five seconds left at our place. Lon only wrestled his Junior and Senior years and both were at heavy. I will look up when he graduated if i can find it. It will be the year he is listed as the state champion on the state sight whatever that is, because he won it as a senior. Lon was an interesting guy. They thought he had a heart problem because of his family history and he didnt actually get much mat time in practice because of it. He was such an amazing athlete though that when he finally got down to it, itdidnt take him very long to get realllly good at it lol.

Just an update on Ubben-
He is wrestling 285 at Fort Hays and is currently ranked 7th in the nation. Pretty good for a freshman.

I had forgotten about Humphrey and Hemmerling from Hutch but they were pretty darn good themselves. There have been some amazing heavy's in this state, really more good athletes there than people would think.

Westfahl, Danny graduated in 64 and I think Lon graduated in 65. I'm sure Lon wrestled 180 with the old 5lb's,185 at the Norton tournament his Sr. year. He wrestled Abbey from Norton in the finals. Speaking of Abbey, he should be considered as a good Kansas wrestler never to win a state title.(seperated shoulder- Jr & broken ankle- Sr)

No I think you are thinking of either Pickering or Kenny Kuhn. Lon won the state his senior year. he was in the same class as Kenny Gaines and those guys and they all went out together as state champs (Austin in wrestling and the bunch of them in Track)

Danny and Lon were the same age and played all four years together at K-State. They were seniors there together as well and neither red shirted.