Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/797655
Wrestling has a unique hold on Penn State sports fans C ollegiate wrestling doesn't get the respect from the nation's sports populace and media that football, basketball and even track and field re- ceive, but in certain venues like Penn State it's one of the premier sports on campus. One of the things that makes wrestling so different from even football and bas- ketball is the composition of the crowd that packs into Rec Hall. It's a demo- graphic cross-section of rural central Pennsylvania, although many of the fans travel from other parts of the state to watch the half-dozen or so dual meets each winter. There's also the atmosphere during the matches. The mood is mercurial, swinging from near silence to thunder- ous applause and vociferous cheering, interspersed with loud boos and taunts that are directed primarily at the refer- ees but sometimes at an opposing wrestler who is believed to be stalling or using an illegal hold. That seemingly rude fan behavior is actually a byprod- uct of the knowledge that the typical college wrestling fan has about the intri- cacies of the sport. Certainly, the standing-room-only crowds in Rec Hall the past few years are there because of coach Cael Sanderson's national championship teams and the elite talent of his wrestlers. However, wrestling has been a popular sport at Penn State almost since its inception in 1909 with a core of dedicated fans over the years – students, faculty, townspeo- ple, alumni and others – win or lose. Large crowds have been the norm rather than the exception in the decades since World War II. I can remember my student days from 1955-59 when the wrestling and gym- nastics teams occasionally would be in- volved in a doubleheader with the men's basketball team on a Saturday night. This was just after Penn State's wrestling team had won its first NCAA championship in 1953, the basketball team had made its first, and only, ap- pearance in the Final Four in 1954, and the men's gymnastics team had won successive NCAA titles in '53 and '54. Either coach Charlie Speidel's wrestlers or coach Gene Wettstone's gymnasts would compete in the first event, and the basketball game would follow. Rec Hall was usually jammed for the wrestling or gymnastics meet, but a large segment of the fans would leave MAT TOWN Sanderson has guided the Nittany Lions to five national championships since arriving at Penn State in 2009, helping rein- vigorate the program after a period of de- clining attendance. Photo by Mark Selders/Penn State Athletics