Wrestlers Ready to Prove Their Mettle

"I never thought I'd wrestle a guy from Haaavard in the quarter-finals of the National Collegiate Wrestling Championships," said Oklahoma's Steve Williams after winning a hard-fought battle, 8-3, over Harvard heavyweight Jim Phills last week in the national quarter-finals in Ames, lows Williams, the 298-lb, first-string tackle for the Sooner football team--nicknamed "Dr Death" for the way that the handles opponents--finished second in the tourney, while Phills went home empty-handed after losing 9-3 to the eventual third-place finisher, Wayne Coles from lowa St.

However, Phills' presence at the Nationals amply marked a year in which the Harvard wrestling team had gained respect, accomplishing more than any Crimson squad in the past and setting precedents for the future.

Coach Johnny Lee referred to this year as the best season in Harvard wrestling history, "an exceptionally satisfying year." Lee certainly has had to wait a long time to put together a team at Harvard that could compete at anything higher than a small school level serving as an assistant coach for thirteen years before becoming head coach in 1969

For Lee and his team, the culmination came in February, when the wrestlers walked off the mat with their first Ivy League title in history, an event that had been long-awaited by the Crimson hopefuls In the recent past, league opponents had beaten the Crimson wrestlers badly, but this year Harvard put the shoe on the other foot.

The day that Harvard beat Yale in the IAB for the title must go down as the biggest single day in wrestling history at this University, as a large turnout and impressive wrestling marked the day. The drams of the event was stunning, the lead see-sawing back and forth before the Crimson took control in the final matches. When Phills pinned his opponents to overtake the Elis, the IAB exploded in a wave of emotion.

The team went on to make news both on and off the mat as that same League crown was revoked by the Commissioner of the Ivies on a weigh-in technically two weeks after Harvard had supposedly clinched the title. Harvard had handled Columbia, 24-16, but the judgment on Harvard's unmalicious mistake turned that victory into a 22-20 Columbia win, giving the Lions the Ivy crown. The wrestlers pay the ruling little mind, since they did earn the title where it counts, on the mat. Regardless of what the record book says, Harvard was the league champion.

Unified Front

As a team, the wrestlers "accomplished everything that we could have set out to do." said Lee, reflecting on some of the brighter moments of his outstanding season. The team beat Princeton for the first time in Lee's tenure as a coach, snapping a 14-year loss skein.

The wrestlers also garnered the best finish in their history at the Eastern Championships, taking seventh among the eighteen teams, with three Harvard wrestlers placing. This top showing sent two grapplers to the Nationals--a tournament to which Lee had not the pleasure of accompanying one of his own wrestlers in almost a decade.

Although wrestling is a team sport, the wrestling team survives on the talent of individuals. As a group, this team displayed consistent strength throughout the lineup.