What Makes GIA Special - Bill Harlow Bumps Up in Bedlam Bout

In the second feature of our series dedicated to reliving the best moments in the history of Gallagher-Iba Arena, former OSU wrestler Bill Harlow and longtime wrestling reporter J. Carl Guymon tells the story of Bill "Little Big Man" Harlow's 1966 heavyweight Bedlam bout versus Luke Sharpe.

Bill Harlow: "Both teams were pretty darn good. OU had a good team, bunch of really tough kids and ours were solid. We really didn't have what you'd call a regular heavyweight."

"OU had Luke Sharpe, who transferred in from Duke, and I think he was ACC Champion the year before he moved to OU. I think that year he took third in the nationals at heavyweight. He was tall, rangy, pretty strong kid and could really move."

"Going into the match, the house was packed. The mat was up on a stage platform. The part I remember is I weighed in at 177, and I didn't know if that was the weight I was going to wrestle at. I thought it was, but as the match went on, (Myron) Roderick had some choices he had to make because OU won a match or two that we didn't think they were going to win. So, with two matches left, there was me, (Fred) Fozzard and (Ron) Gabbett left. Gabbett was a heavyweight, Fozzard and I both weighed in at 177. I had a little bit more experience, so when I was getting ready to warm up for the 177-pound match, the news came from Roderick, 'Fozzard, you're going to 177. Harlow, you're going heavyweight.' Holy mackerel."

"I found out I was going to wrestle heavyweight nine minutes before the match started."

J. Carl Guymon: "Harlow was giving up a lot of pounds because he had to weigh in at a lower weight. Luke Sharpe, if I remember, weighed about 240, so he was giving up a lot of size. Luke Sharpe was a pretty good heavyweight, but Bill was just a really skillful wrestler, tall, 6-foot-3, really good leverage."

BH: "Roderick had to do what he did because after Fozzard beats (Roger) Mickish, we're still down by two. What it amounted to was that I had to win. But I didn't know if I could because I was giving up so much weight and size."

"As I was going out there, I was saying, 'holy mackerel.' I was trying to figure out ways to beat this guy. I can't let him get on top of me. I can't let him take me down. I can't let him hold me down when I'm in a down position. I couldn't let him reverse me when he was in the down position. I just had to try and find a way to win."

"I remember early on, hitting him on the edge trying to pick him up on a double leg and he was so much taller than me that he reached all the way over and grabbed my shins with his hands from over the back of me. I couldn't pick him up, so I just fell out of bounds with him and me at the same time. There was just no way. I couldn't because I couldn't get my back under him."

"You couldn't hear very much when you were out there because there was so much noise. People were going absolutely berserk."

"I remember at the start of the second period the coin flip was my choice. I took down position. I was thinking, 'I better get down where I can get down while I'm still as fresh as a daisy.' I came up probably four times and he either drove me off the mat or just on the motion of things we went off the mat. After that fourth time, it was close to about a minute riding time, which was not good, and I thought, 'How is he getting his hands locked around my waist so fast?' It came to my mind that he must be locking his hands when the referee blows his whistle because he knows I'm coming up real fast."

"On the way back for the fourth time, I walked slowly beside the ref and said, 'He's locking his hands before I even get to my feet.' And the referee looks at me and says, 'Ok, you're still down. Go.' And the referee watched it, and he was. What I did the next time was I acted like I was coming all the way up and left one knee down. The referee blew the whistle and made a locked hand sign, but I still had to get away."

"I take a 1-0 lead, but I'm sweating bullets. There's only four minutes done in the match, there's three to go. So, this time I go down, and this time he doesn't lock his hands early – bang – bang – I'm out, up 2-0."

"Third period, he's down. I've got to stay on him at least six seconds or break the riding time. He does what I used to call the OU sit out. His knees aren't up very much. He's in a sit-out position. I push into him from the top position, and he leans back and as he's leaning back, I'm looking over his shoulder a little bit, not too much. And I notice his left knee is up a little bit."

"Me and Fozzard had messed around with the legs a little bit. Roderick didn't like us using the leg because they are kind of risky, but I had been playing with it. So, I saw a chance and I was looking for a way to get more points. I didn't know if I could do it, but you got to take a chance every once in a while. So, I snapped to the side real quick, kept my right hand under his left shoulder and threw a leg over and, picked his left leg up. With my left arm, I took him right by the chin and snapped his head back down to the mat."

"I'm looking at the referee's hands and he goes, 'two swipes.' Man, I got my points, I was gonna go for more. I couldn't. The guy was so much stronger than me, he was literally doing a sit-up with me cranking on his head as hard as I could. He sits up and I bail the leg, snap around, and get the heck away from him. Ok, he gets a point, but I get two of them and get the riding time off, too. The score is 4-1 and that's how it ends up. I had to find a way to win, that's what it amounted to."

JG: "It was one of those loud, loud, loudest roars when he won. That was one of those defining moments where the crowd just exploded when he won the match."

BH: "The last part, I didn't know people could make that much noise. The house was loaded, everybody was there. It was one of the few matches ever where I couldn't hear Myron Roderick shrieking. I couldn't hear anything except the huge, screaming roar that was going on the entire time."

"I heard all kinds of strange things. I was exhausted. Match was over. He goes to his side, the OU people are going nuts, OSU people are going even more nuts, the place is up for grabs, people are shrieking. Someone told me, 'Roderick's wife fainted.'"

"Luke Sharpe's roommate, his name was Bill Lam, he told me a story of what happened during the match. I kind of heard some banging going on. Pistol Pete wandered over to their side, right in front of their bench, and had his pistols there, his guns out. BANG – BANG – into the air in that confined area, right in front of their bench. Lam couldn't stand it."

"So when Pistol Pete came wandering by again, bragging and pointing his finger at them [OU sidelines], Lam put his foot out and tripped Pistol Pete. Pistol Pete went down right in front of the OU bench, hat flying all over the place."

"Tommy Evans was the coach and he had to deal with that. So he gets in the locker room and he has the boys all there and he goes, 'Alright, which one of you guys tripped Pistol Pete?' And all the OU kids are lined up, and they're kind of all looking around, and Bill Lam goes, 'Coach. I did it. I tripped Pistol Pete.' So Tommy says, 'Ok. You and I are having a talk. But I'm telling you right now, I'm madder than hell. The reason I'm madder than hell is that I didn't trip him.'"

"So he had Bill Lam running stadium stairs for about a month. Which was good for Bill Lam, great for conditioning."

"I'd like to have seen it."

Oklahoma State University Athletics

What Makes GIA Special - Bill Harlow Bumps Up in Bedlam Bout

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