Alright, boys and girls, here's a question for you:

Who is the dirtiest wrestler you've ever wrestled/heard tales of? (Old timers, feel free to get in on this too...oh wait, I'm an old timer now. Crap.) I'm not talking skin diseases, although I could name a few dirty people on that list, too. I'm talking headbutts, knees to the groin, fishhooks, etc.

I'd say the two dirtiest mofos I ever wrestled were Jason Butler and Matt Wintz. Those dudes just plain beat me up. Butler broke my knee, and Wintz stopped my nose bleed streak of almost 7 years on the same day. Kudos to those guys.

Me. The trick was not to get caught. I used to use knees and elbows any chance I got. Either in the back or accross the face or both. I would also grab as much as I could to keep anyone from scoring on me. But my favorite was the "unintintional" head slap. If it got the other guy out of his comfort zone and made him mad then I did my job. The bad thing was I had to be ready to get just as much back and then some. My contacts would fall out every once in a while as well. I DO NOT teach this to any of my wrestlers at Carroll, and expect nothing but a clean match, so parents don't take what I just posted the wrong way. I would never ask a kid to do what I used to.

Now I never saw him do this but I've heard it from several people including his arch enemy David Karnowski, but Adam Slupianek from Marysville used to love to jam his thumb in people's adam's apple when he did a front headlock. Its was fun watching the two crowds when these too wrestled.

The East Lansing Strangler...aka...Nick Simmons (125lber) for Michigan State. That guy has one mean choke. Dirty it may be, but effective.

As I recall, Nick Simmons was disqualified from last seasons NCAA Tournament for his tactics.

Oh ive heard many tales from dave about slupianek's dirty tricks. It's great watching two league rivals like that go at it.

Simmons took 7th in this year's NCAA's as a freshman. And was the individual who knocked Bo Maynes out of the tournament. Lost in a tie breaker in the second round and 5-0 in the conso quarters.

And I felt the Brown (no relation) kid at 215 from Concordia wrestled pretty dirty in several of the matches I saw him compete in this year. Oil checks, forearm shivers, head butts and maybe even an occasional eye gouge all seemed to be in day's work for him.

Dear Les:

Was not the match which knocked Simmons to the back side a DQ for unnecessary roughness?

That second round loss was to Terrence Clendenin of Lehigh and I remember it being a very exciting match. Bracket update shows it ended at 2-1 in the second period of OT - and not a DQ, but maybe the bout sheet is wrong - although it would have impacted team scores if it were shown as a loss and not DQ.

I remember Clendenin being injured (or at least taking injury time) and thought he scored an escape to win. But maybe I am thinking of another bout.

What did you recall?

in practice, bingham has poked many an eye out, espesially woodfords, i saw him thumb woodfords eye up to the knuckle. And I'd have to say kevin gray's little head slam thing was preety dirty

nick clayton is the dirtiest wrestler ive ever wrestled. He once punched me in the face in neutral.

I can say that the concordia 215 is a pretty dirty dude. I've wrestled him a few times, totally dominating him, and he's tried some weird crap. He punched me a few times right before i stuck him without trying, and then after the match he tried to shove me. But when all was said and done he realized i owned him and shook my hand. (maybe because he didnt wanna get jacked up by me and prant at beloit)

Wintz and I have been friends for years now, and we have also wrestled several times, he always won by 1 or 2 points, but I agree Prant, he's a very rough wrestler.

Plus, he has weirdo chest/shoulder stubble. It was weird and gross.

But how could I start this topic and neglect the dirtiest wrestler of all time?! I am of course referring to one Ian Bork. My Manhattan comrades will surely remember tales of Bork's thumb reaching through my eyeball and into my brain when I was a junior and wrestling 215. (In fact ol' Ian managed to make the typically mild-mannered Prant curse on the mat...whoo, I wouldn't recommend that, fellas. Coaches don't like that.)

And how did I counter these dirty tactics? Why, by losing as only a true man loses- 16-0.

Prant-

What were you doing at 215???

I was wrestling at my normal weight...171, while it may give you some serious abs, is not a fun weight for a fat dude. (Sittin' pretty at 198 right now.)

And yes, Nothern has a SERIOUS check-the-oil problem. Eek.

To this subject I must nominate my friend and old workout partner. A former assistant coach at Fort Hays and Labette CC. All-American Ben Loggains was a true Jedi master of sneeky techniques, under handed tactics and all around dirty pool. He had quickness and cat-like reflexes but his greatest weapon was his temperment. He wrestled with the attitude of a bad girlfriend with overly tight panties and a wicked case of PMS. He had a cut off thumb that left the bone sharply pointed at the end which he wielded like a Mexican gang member in a knife fight. He taught me the finer points of a good choke hold, the wonderfull feel of the shin bone across the nape of a neck, the true limits and elastic properties of the human scrotum, and how perfectly a chin fits into an eye socket. Yes, my friends Ben took his below the belt tactics and turned them into a true art form. How I miss those workouts.

Eeeeek. Mamasawn, I am uh....baffled. But different strokes for different folks, I guess. Yikes.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Andy Bacon from Shawnee heights has the pointiest chin known to man, He uses that every chance he has in any soft spot on his opponents. I've seen guys give up position and fall to their backs b/c of his chin.

To Les Brown:

I aplolgize for the tardy response to the conversation regarding Nick Simmons from Michigan State and Terrance Clendenin from Lehigh at the NCAA National Championship Tournament.

The following is an article from the Lehigh website confirming my earlier statement that Simmons was penalized for an illegal hold!

http://www2.lehigh.edu/page.asp?page=art...p;db=LehighUpub

"Kansas City, MO -
In another huge round for Lehigh, the Mountain Hawks advanced all five of its unbeaten wrestlers to the NCAA quarterfinals to hold onto second place in the team standings. The spark was provided early by a spectacular upset win by sophomore Terrance Clendenin at 125.

The unseeded Clendenin beat the nation’s 5th-ranked wrestler, Nick Simmons of Michigan State, who is considered one of the most dominant lightweight men while on top. The first two periods were scoreless with Terrance unable to score from his feet. But while looking to ride out for a 1-0 win on time advantage, the Spartan made a mistake by locking hands while Clendenin tried frantically to escape. Tied 1-1 in overtime, once again neither scored, but Simmons was penalized for an illegal choke hold while attempting to ride out in the tie-breaker—giving Clendenin a 2-1 victory."