A Century of Cowboy Wrestling: 1920s

After World War I halted college athletics, Oklahoma A&M returned to the mat with a vengeance in the 1920s.

Oklahoma A&M opened the decade with a 50-0 shutout of Oklahoma, a victory that still ranks as the seventh-most lopsided win in program history. Coach Ed Gallagher's team would win their remaining two duals and finish the 1920 season with a 3-0 record.

In 1921, the season would once again start with a dominant victory against OU, but the Aggies would drop their next two matches against Nebraska and Iowa State.

After those two defeats, Oklahoma A&M wouldn't lose another dual until 1932 and the greatest dynasty in American sports would truly begin.

In 1924, Guy Lookabaugh became the first Olympian in school history. Lookabaugh competed at that year's Paris games, taking home fourth place in the 158.5 pound division.

Lookabaugh enrolled at the school in 1917, but enlisted in the Army to serve in World War I. After returning to school, Lookabaugh became known as the first "Super Aggie" due to his success on the wrestling mat as well as the football field.

His career preceded the NCAA Tournament, but in 1921 Lookabaugh became the school's first conference champion by winning the titles of three separate conferences- the Missouri Valley (Big Eight), Western (Big 10) and Southwest.

Lookabaugh never lost a collegiate match and was honored as a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1983.

There are four 1920s Aggie wrestlers that are honored as Distinguished Members of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame - Jack Van Bebber, Earl McCready, Conrad Caldwell and Lookabaugh.

Van Bebber was a standout from the national championship teams of the late-'20s. He would be undefeated in three years as a collegiate wrestler, which included three NCAA Championships, the first coming in 1929.

Caldwell, like Van Bebber, was a star in the late-'20s. He had never wrestled before enrolling at Oklahoma A&M, but Coach Gallagher recruited him from a gym class and promised to turn him into a national champion.

Wrestling at 165 pounds, Caldwell won the 1929 NCAA Championship in just his fifth career match, fulfilling his coach's promise.

McCready, a heavyweight, along with Clarence Berryman, who wrestled at 145 pounds, would give the Aggies two more Olympians as they competed in the 1928 Amsterdam games. Both men placed sixth in their divisions.

Berryman and McCready, like Lookabaugh before them, would also be dominant wrestlers for the school.

Berryman would win conference championships in 1927 and 1928, while McCready is known as the first great collegiate heavyweight wrestler.

McCready would win every match in a three-year period with all but three coming by falls. He would also wrestle in the first three NCAA Championships, winning all three and becoming the first three-time champion in collegiate history.

In the 1928 finals, McCready won by fall in 19 seconds, a record that still stands today.

The NCAA Championships weren't held until 1928, but Oklahoma A&M would close out the 1920s winning the first two of Coach Gallagher's 11 team titles.

In those two tournaments, the Aggies would crown eight individual champions and 11 All-Americans.

At the conclusion of the 1920s, the Aggies won 21 individual conference championships, 8 team conference championships, their first two team national championships and finished the decade with a team record of 52-2.

The 1920s mark an era of dominance in program history, but it was only the beginning for Gallagher and his teams.

Oklahoma State University Athletics

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