Oklahoma State University Athletics
Ned Blass to Receive 2021 Gallagher Award
February 16, 2021 | Cowboy Wrestling
STILLWATER – Cowboy wrestling coach John Smith announced Tuesday that Ned Blass will be the recipient of the 2021 Gallagher Award.
The award, given annually to an OSU alumnus who has exemplified the spirit and leadership eminent in the tradition of champions, will be presented during the Cowboys' final home dual against Oklahoma on Feb. 21.
"I'm really touched and honored by it," Blass said. "My original reaction was way out there. It's been a long time ago since I've been around, so I was surprised. It goes along with if you wait long enough in life everything comes around, but I'm 88 years old and I've been fortunate and received a lot of accolades and felt they had run out. This was one that was a major one."
A member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, the Ponca City HS Hall of Fame, Tulsa Edison HS Hall of Fame and the Citizens Savings Athletic Hall of Fame, Blass spent 40 years in the sport, from the time he began wrestling to when he finished his coaching career in 1982.
A two-sport standout at Ponca City High School, Blass had offers to play football from Oklahoma, OSU, Nebraska and more, but ultimately decided to leave them behind and pursue wrestling at Oklahoma State. In his four years at OSU, he went 28-3-1 and won back-to-back championships at 177 pounds in 1953 and 1954.
Soon after graduating from OSU, he became a player-coach at the Naval Training Center in San Diego, California, where he qualified to be an alternate for the 1956 U.S. Olympic team. It was during that time when he grew a love for coaching, that led him to spend the next 30 years of his life as a coach and send multiple wrestlers to big-time college programs, including Charlie White at Oklahoma and Cowboy legends J Robinson and Roy Brewer.
"What a great coach he was, where he spent over 30 years in coaching and as a principal," Smith said. "He coached at Tulsa Central, one of the greatest high school programs in wrestling and spent a lot of time out in California. We're very proud of what he has accomplished as a coach and we're very proud of what he accomplished as an athlete here at Oklahoma State."
He returned to Oklahoma State in 1958 when Cowboy head coach Myron Roderick hired Blass as an assistant coach. After his one-year stint under Roderick, he took the head coaching job at Tulsa Central High School where he would begin his head coaching career in Oklahoma and California.
While at Oklahoma State and Tulsa Central, Blass became affiliated with another future Cowboy legend, basketball coach Eddie Sutton.
"We were very close socially," Blass said. "He and I finished our Master's program at the same time and we were friends, but when we got to Tulsa we became real close. In those days we were young teachers who had little money, so we had a lot of social life playing bridge and having potlucks and that sort of thing. Back in the day I never missed a basketball game and he was always at the wrestling matches."
He finished his coaching career in California where he had long stints as the wrestling coach at Mt. Miguel High School and Valhalla High School. He left the wrestling program at Valhalla in 1984 to move into an administrator role as a vice principal and eventually a principal at Granite Hills High School.
Like all of the Gallagher award winners before him, Blass' impact on the wrestling world extends far beyond his success on the mat. His efforts to increase the popularity of wrestling in California has brought numerous college and high school programs to the state.
While his days in the sport of wrestling are numbered as a competitor and coach, Blass has managed to keep wrestling near him.
"If you go down the litany of them, my financial advisor is a wrestler, my home construction guy is a wrestler, my chiropractor is a wrestler, my lawyer is a wrestler," Blass said. "They all wrestled for me at some time and I had a few go out and do fairly well like Charlie White and J Robinson and some other guys. To follow along with their success and feel I had some input in being a good mentor to a lot of people out there is special to me."
Blass will be honored for his achievement inside Gallagher-Iba Arena on Sunday when the Pokes wrestle Oklahoma at 5 p.m. on senior day. He plans to be in attendance along with his son and daughter-in-law.
Gallagher Award Recipients
1986 – Rex Peery
1987 – Frank Lewis
1988 – Myron Roderick
1989 – Tommy Chesbro
1990 – Joe McDaniel
1991 – John W. Divine
1996 - Ray Murphy
1997 - John Smith
1998 - Grady Peninger
1999 - Kenny Monday
2000 - Pat Smith
2001 - Kendall Cross
2002 - Mike Sheets
2003 - Doug Blubaugh
2004 - Grover Rains
2005 - Bobby Douglas
2006 - Charles Hetrick
2007 - Fred Davis
2008 - Lee Roy Smith
2009 - Bobby Stites
2010 - Bill Harlow
2011 - Eddie Griffin
2013 - Jim Shields
2014 - Mike Jones
2015 - Jay Arneson
2016 - Hardell Moore
2017 - Stanley Henson
2018 – Nick Williams
2019 – Tadaaki Hatta
2020 – Jim Rogers
2021 - Ned Blass
The award, given annually to an OSU alumnus who has exemplified the spirit and leadership eminent in the tradition of champions, will be presented during the Cowboys' final home dual against Oklahoma on Feb. 21.
"I'm really touched and honored by it," Blass said. "My original reaction was way out there. It's been a long time ago since I've been around, so I was surprised. It goes along with if you wait long enough in life everything comes around, but I'm 88 years old and I've been fortunate and received a lot of accolades and felt they had run out. This was one that was a major one."
A member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, the Ponca City HS Hall of Fame, Tulsa Edison HS Hall of Fame and the Citizens Savings Athletic Hall of Fame, Blass spent 40 years in the sport, from the time he began wrestling to when he finished his coaching career in 1982.
A two-sport standout at Ponca City High School, Blass had offers to play football from Oklahoma, OSU, Nebraska and more, but ultimately decided to leave them behind and pursue wrestling at Oklahoma State. In his four years at OSU, he went 28-3-1 and won back-to-back championships at 177 pounds in 1953 and 1954.
Soon after graduating from OSU, he became a player-coach at the Naval Training Center in San Diego, California, where he qualified to be an alternate for the 1956 U.S. Olympic team. It was during that time when he grew a love for coaching, that led him to spend the next 30 years of his life as a coach and send multiple wrestlers to big-time college programs, including Charlie White at Oklahoma and Cowboy legends J Robinson and Roy Brewer.
"What a great coach he was, where he spent over 30 years in coaching and as a principal," Smith said. "He coached at Tulsa Central, one of the greatest high school programs in wrestling and spent a lot of time out in California. We're very proud of what he has accomplished as a coach and we're very proud of what he accomplished as an athlete here at Oklahoma State."
He returned to Oklahoma State in 1958 when Cowboy head coach Myron Roderick hired Blass as an assistant coach. After his one-year stint under Roderick, he took the head coaching job at Tulsa Central High School where he would begin his head coaching career in Oklahoma and California.
While at Oklahoma State and Tulsa Central, Blass became affiliated with another future Cowboy legend, basketball coach Eddie Sutton.
"We were very close socially," Blass said. "He and I finished our Master's program at the same time and we were friends, but when we got to Tulsa we became real close. In those days we were young teachers who had little money, so we had a lot of social life playing bridge and having potlucks and that sort of thing. Back in the day I never missed a basketball game and he was always at the wrestling matches."
He finished his coaching career in California where he had long stints as the wrestling coach at Mt. Miguel High School and Valhalla High School. He left the wrestling program at Valhalla in 1984 to move into an administrator role as a vice principal and eventually a principal at Granite Hills High School.
Like all of the Gallagher award winners before him, Blass' impact on the wrestling world extends far beyond his success on the mat. His efforts to increase the popularity of wrestling in California has brought numerous college and high school programs to the state.
While his days in the sport of wrestling are numbered as a competitor and coach, Blass has managed to keep wrestling near him.
"If you go down the litany of them, my financial advisor is a wrestler, my home construction guy is a wrestler, my chiropractor is a wrestler, my lawyer is a wrestler," Blass said. "They all wrestled for me at some time and I had a few go out and do fairly well like Charlie White and J Robinson and some other guys. To follow along with their success and feel I had some input in being a good mentor to a lot of people out there is special to me."
Blass will be honored for his achievement inside Gallagher-Iba Arena on Sunday when the Pokes wrestle Oklahoma at 5 p.m. on senior day. He plans to be in attendance along with his son and daughter-in-law.
Gallagher Award Recipients
1986 – Rex Peery
1987 – Frank Lewis
1988 – Myron Roderick
1989 – Tommy Chesbro
1990 – Joe McDaniel
1991 – John W. Divine
1996 - Ray Murphy
1997 - John Smith
1998 - Grady Peninger
1999 - Kenny Monday
2000 - Pat Smith
2001 - Kendall Cross
2002 - Mike Sheets
2003 - Doug Blubaugh
2004 - Grover Rains
2005 - Bobby Douglas
2006 - Charles Hetrick
2007 - Fred Davis
2008 - Lee Roy Smith
2009 - Bobby Stites
2010 - Bill Harlow
2011 - Eddie Griffin
2013 - Jim Shields
2014 - Mike Jones
2015 - Jay Arneson
2016 - Hardell Moore
2017 - Stanley Henson
2018 – Nick Williams
2019 – Tadaaki Hatta
2020 – Jim Rogers
2021 - Ned Blass
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