GRAY SIMONS | SEVEN: Building Up Rocky Top
Etched In Stone
After leaving the place he’d help establish as a national wrestling power, Gray Simons spent five seasons at Indiana State as the Sycamores’ head coach prior to taking over his first “big school” - the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. While sports-crazy, Tennessee was still new to the wrestling game. Gray Simons and a talented recruiter named Steve Gaydosh wouldn’t just change Tennessee’s fortunes - they would turn Tennessee into a waking giant in college wrestling. As programs started to fall around them, Tennessee held strong, as did its athletes, overcoming some severe...
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GRAY SIMONS | SEVEN: Mat Town's Championship Era
Etched In Stone
Gray Simons finished his college career by setting a new standard in college wrestling. Seven national championships, college wrestling’s first four-time title winner in any division to go along with two Olympic appearances. The Olympic disappointment didn’t last long as Gray Simons returned to Mat Town to take over its proud wrestling program. Simons was primed to lead the program to new heights, taking over as the program’s head coach after his distinguished competitive career. But could Simons build the Bald Eagles into a winner against the nation’s heavyweights or would something...
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GRAY SIMONS | SEVEN: Masterful Mite
Etched In Stone
From 1961-1964, Gray Simons was one of the best wrestlers in the World. Heading into his junior season at Lock Haven, Simons had already won two NAIA national championships and an NCAA championship, beating Olympian Dick Wilson in the finals as a sophomore. After his trip to Rome saw him come away from the Olympics without a medal, Simons continued his tear through college wrestling. Would injuries or wrestlers from more dominant programs stop him from his place in wrestling history? Would old friends and teammates be the ones who would knock Simons from his path? Find out in the...
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Gray Simons | SEVEN: Unrolling Granby
Etched In Stone
From the legendary Granby High School in Norfolk, Virginia, the path to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame for Elliot Gray Simons included some unbelievable feats of wrestling, but it didn’t start off with immediate accolades. Simons would win a state championship for Hall of Fame coach Billy Martin before enrolling at tiny Lock Haven State Teachers College. There, Simons would dominate the college wrestling world, becoming the first wrestler in history to win four NAIA national titles and was the first to win four collegiate national championships across any division. He would also win...
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Gray Simons: Seven (Trailer)
Etched In Stone
Trailer for the upcoming Etched in Stone series, Gray Simons: Seven. Gray Simons was college wrestling's first four-time collegiate national champion. He also holds the unique distinction of being the first - and only - seven-time college national champion. Simons was a four-time NAIA champion at Lock Haven and was also a three-time NCAA champion, winning the Outstanding Wrestler award six times in those seven tournaments. A two-time Olympian, Simons stands as one of the greatest American wrestlers to ever walk the earth.
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Lee Kemp | Legend on the Rocks Ep. 4
Etched In Stone
The National Wrestling Hall of Fame and USA Wrestling are excited to announce that their Etched In Stone - Stories of Wrestling Legends podcast featuring Lee Kemp, a three-time World champion and a three-time NCAA champion for the University of Wisconsin has launched at . Episode II will be released on March 7 followed by Episode III on March 14 and Episode IV on March 21. The EIS series provides wrestling fans an opportunity to hear legendary wrestlers sharing the trials and tribulations they encountered on the way to becoming one of wrestling’s best. Podcasts also include interviews with...
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Lee Kemp | Legend on the Rocks Ep. 3
Etched In Stone
The National Wrestling Hall of Fame and USA Wrestling are excited to announce that their Etched In Stone - Stories of Wrestling Legends podcast featuring Lee Kemp, a three-time World champion and a three-time NCAA champion for the University of Wisconsin has launched at . Episode II will be released on March 8 followed by Episode III on March 15 and Episode IV on March 22. The EIS series provides wrestling fans an opportunity to hear legendary wrestlers sharing the trials and tribulations they encountered on the way to becoming one of wrestling’s best. Podcasts also include interviews with...
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Lee Kemp | Legend on the Rocks Ep. 2
Etched In Stone
The National Wrestling Hall of Fame and USA Wrestling are excited to announce that their Etched In Stone - Stories of Wrestling Legends podcast featuring Lee Kemp, a three-time World champion and a three-time NCAA champion for the University of Wisconsin has launched at . Episode II will be released on March 7 followed by Episode III on March 14 and Episode IV on March 21. The EIS series provides wrestling fans an opportunity to hear legendary wrestlers sharing the trials and tribulations they encountered on the way to becoming one of wrestling’s best. Podcasts also include interviews with...
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Lee Kemp | Legend on the Rocks Ep. 1
Etched In Stone
The National Wrestling Hall of Fame and USA Wrestling are excited to announce that their Etched In Stone - Stories of Wrestling Legends podcast featuring Lee Kemp, a three-time World champion and a three-time NCAA champion for the University of Wisconsin has launched at . Episode II will be released on March 8 followed by Episode III on March 15 and Episode IV on March 22. The EIS series provides wrestling fans an opportunity to hear legendary wrestlers sharing the trials and tribulations they encountered on the way to becoming one of wrestling’s best. Podcasts also include interviews with...
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Lloyd Keaser | Thrill, Agony & Satisfaction
Etched In Stone
The famous tagline for ABC’s Wide World of Sports is the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Lloyd Keaser’s story isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. In addition to the hardships he overcame as a youth and the struggles in high school and at the Naval Academy, Keaser’s wrestling career also saw the highs and lows. Wrestling is a fickle beast. Wrestling doesn’t care how good you are. It can fell the mightiest of men and women. It is humbling. Following Keaser’s triumph in 1973 at the World Championships, he experienced another form of agony, but it was wrapped in...
info_outlineFrom 1961-1964, Gray Simons was one of the best wrestlers in the World. Heading into his junior season at Lock Haven, Simons had already won two NAIA national championships and an NCAA championship, beating Olympian Dick Wilson in the finals as a sophomore.
After his trip to Rome saw him come away from the Olympics without a medal, Simons continued his tear through college wrestling. Would injuries or wrestlers from more dominant programs stop him from his place in wrestling history? Would old friends and teammates be the ones who would knock Simons from his path?
Find out in the second installment of Seven.
Seven is the story of one of America’s great wrestling minds - a stellar athlete with two Olympic appearances - and a dynamic technical mind - delivering next-level techniques learned at Granby and tweaked for the college wrestling world.
Episode 2: Masterful Mite looks at Simons' run into the record books, becoming the first collegiate wrestler to win four national college championships and the 20th to win three NCAA titles. The journey also runs through his second Olympic appearance.
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About Gray Simons (From NWHOF.com)
During his four years of collegiate competition at Lock Haven University, Gray Simons entered seven national tournaments. He won all seven, and six times was voted outstanding wrestler of the event.
Four years he reigned supreme at 115 pounds in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, and all four years was chosen the NAIA's finest, an unparalleled achievement. Three times he won the University Division title in the NCAA and as a junior and senior was voted the outstanding competitor.
The only collegiate defeat in his 90 collegiate matches came in his freshman season. He then proceeded to win 84 in a row, a record at the time.