Oklahoma State University Athletics
A Century of Cowboy Wrestling: 1940s
September 25, 2015 | Cowboy Wrestling
The 1940s began the same as the previous two decades had – with Oklahoma A&M dominating its competition.
During the 1940 season, the Cowboys would wrestle in 10 duals. They would win all 10.
At the NCAA Championships, Al Whitehurst and Vernon Logan won individual national championships as the Cowboys clinched their fourth consecutive team title.
That national championship was the 11th in team history, but also marked the end of an era in Cowboy wrestling.
At the end of the 1940 season, Coach Ed Gallagher, an avid outdoorsman, went to the Rocky Mountains for an extended vacation. While in Colorado, he collapsed and died on August 28, 1940.
He was 52 years old.
In 23 seasons, Gallagher coached 19 undefeated teams and finished with a record of 136-5-4 in duals, including a streak of 69 straight victories. And while the NCAA Championships weren't introduced until halfway through Gallagher's career, in the 13 meets he coached, his teams brought home the national championship 11 times.
Gallagher was honored as a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame's inaugural class in 1976.
After Gallagher's death, Oklahoma A&M had to find a coach to replace him. That coach was Art Griffith.
Griffith was the head coach at Central High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His high school teams won 94 of 100 matches, 50 of them in a row, 10 Oklahoma scholastic championships and the only two national high school tournaments conducted.
Griffith took over an Oklahoma A&M team in the midst of a 27 dual winning streak. Under his coaching, the Cowboys continued that streak through the rest of the 1940s.
In 1941, Oklahoma A&M went undefeated and had four wrestlers win individual titles as the Cowboys won their fifth consecutive team title. In 1942, they repeated that feat and won the program's sixth straight title and 13th overall.
Following the 1942 season, war put college athletics on hold once again as the United States found itself in the midst of World War II.
In 1946 though, college wrestling began again and the Cowboys picked up right where they left off.
After winning both of its regular season duals, Oklahoma A&M won its seventh consecutive team national championship.
The Cowboys' seven consecutive national championships ranks as the second longest streak in NCAA wrestling history.
David "Buddy" Arndt and Dick Hutton are the only two Cowboy wrestlers from the 1940s to be honored as Distinguished Members of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Arndt won national championships in 1941 and '42, and he was honored as the Outstanding Wrestler after storming through the 1942 NCAA Championships.
When World War II halted college athletics after the 1942 season, Arndt spent the next three years as a P-38 fighter pilot, flying more than 100 combat missions over Italy with the 15th Air Corps.
He returned to college after the war, this time competing at his natural weight of 136 pounds, and won his third NCAA championship. Arndt is the only wrestler to win National Collegiate championships on both sides of World War II.
Arndt never lost a match during his three-year career at Oklahoma State, putting together a 23-0 career mark. He was honored as a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1981.
Hutton was the cornerstone upon which Griffith rebuilt the Oklahoma State program when wrestling resumed after World War II. He suffered only one loss and one draw in four years of varsity competition.
His one defeat was a controversial referee's decision in the 1949 NCAA finals against light-heavyweight champion Verne Gagne. That loss prevented Hutton from becoming the sport's first four-time collegiate champion.
Hutton won titles in 1947, '48 and '50, and was a member of two national championship teams. He wrestled in the national finals four times - establishing a record that was unmatched for 28 years and unbroken until 44 years later.
Hutton was honored as a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1995.
When the 1940s ended, Oklahoma A&M had won six team national championships, 17 individual national championships and received All-America honors 41 times.
The Cowboys also posted a perfect dual record of 50-0 during the decade.
The undefeated decade extended Oklahoma A&M's winning streak to 67 straight duals, and that streak would be extended even further in the 1950s.
