What Makes GIA Special - Mitch Shelton Pins Dr. Death - Oklahoma State University Athletics

This is the fourth feature of the "What Makes GIA Special" series dedicated to reliving the best moments in the history of Gallagher-Iba Arena. This story from the 1982 Bedlam dual is told by former Cowboy heavyweight Mitch Shelton, teammate Mike Sheets, longtime wrestling reporter J. Carl Guymon and OSU's wrestling radio broadcaster Rex Holt.

Rex Holt: "OSU had a 400-pound heavyweight named Mitch Shelton that came in from the JUCO ranks out of the St. Louis area, I think. That was back in the day of the super heavyweights and he was definitely the biggest of the big. He couldn't move much but he was a mountain of a man. He had some success and was an All-American."

"Dr. Death (Steve Williams) was a superstar. He was a one-time finalist but a four-time All-American. He was a great football player too. He started on the OU football teams back in the day on the offensive line. He was called Dr. Death for a reason. He looked the part with the long black hair and a black goatee. He was a huge powerful individual."

Mitch Shelton: "I actually had known Steve Williams since I was a senior in high school. I went to the Barry Switzer Football Camp and met him there. I knew when he went to OU and became their heavyweight and stuff."

Mike Sheets: "Back in those days you came out of Gallagher on Friday night and there were people sleeping outside Gallagher Hall waiting in line for tickets. There were bedrolls wrapped around the building with people waiting for the ticket office to open at 8 a.m. Saturday morning."

"OU was a heavy favorite. I think they might've been ranked No. 2 in the country and we weren't ranked nearly that high. We had a good team though."

"It was a great atmosphere. Back then all the bleachers were pulled out so there wasn't much walking room between the stands and the mat. Whatever Gallagher Hall held, it was standing room only. I'm sure the fire marshals weren't happy with how many people were in the building."

"We were huge underdogs. Maybe Clar Anderson beat Clinton Burke that night. Kenny (Monday) beat Roger Frizzell, but I don't think he ever lost to Frizzell, who was like a third-place finisher at the national tournament. I wrestled Dave Schultz that night and beat him the first time. Every match we won there was just electricity in the air from people going crazy. You could spit to the fans it was right there on the mat. Every match was crazy. It all ended up being down to the wire and it all came down to heavyweight match. If you can believe one thing it was that nobody got up to get popcorn when Mitch and Dr. Death hooked up."

Shelton: "They had a great team that year. By everything you look at, (Steve) Williams should have beat me."

Holt: "That particular night as your looking at the dual we're going into the heavyweight dual with Shelton going against a four-time All-American. You're just thinking, Mitch is good, he is big but the other guy is so powerful, athletic and a proven commodity. He went into professional wrestling because he was a natural fit who loved the villain moniker that followed him around, particularly on the road."

Sheets: "Dr. Death, which he played football and wrestled for OU, he was kind of a showboat so he was the villain, so to speak. He got the boos and he thought he was going to go out there and grab Mitch, throw him down and pin him."

Holt: "OSU had to not only win, but win with bonus points. You're thinking there's no way this can happen because you're an underdog anyways. The odds of winning are slim, so the odds of winning by bonus points is even slimmer."

Shelton: "One of the key things I remember walking on the mat is Tommy Chesbro said to me, 'You know what you have to do.' I said, 'Yeah, I got to pin him.' Then he said, 'No. Just win.'"

"It was interesting because I thought if I just win, then we still lose the dual meet. It was kind of strange for me to care about the team because when I wrestled in high school and college a lot of times sometimes I was the only guy who won or the matches didn't come down to the heavyweight match. I pretty much wrestled for myself so that was an interesting turn."

J. Carl Guymon: "They were kind of locked up and he made the mistake of trying to lean back and do a throw of some kind but when he got back on his heels, Mitch leaned in and kind of bear hugged him, really smothered him and put him on his back."

Holt: "Steve Williams, who has a couple of moments in GIA that have gone down in history, a lot of times his mean streak got him in trouble and I think this is one of those situations. He was going to go out there and try to show he was the man. He was reckless. The first thing he did was shoot under Mitch Shelton and he got to the leg but just as he got to the leg, Mitch was able to get his hips back with all that weight, grab him around the head and as powerful as Dr. Death was he just could not get him up. Mitch kept getting his hips back and had him locked up around the head and the arm. Dr. Death was determined to stay with it to pick this guy up, throw him to the mat and pin him to end the night."

"He stayed under there and continued to try to suck that leg up. At one point his hands came loose and with all that weight on him, Mitch had him bent over and was able to drive him straight back over his own feet."

Shelton: "I got him and pinned him and the place went crazy."

Holt: When they hit the mat he could not have been flatter on the mat. There was no waiting around or counting or nothing, his shoulders were an inch deep in that mat with that big dude Mitch Shelton laying right on top him."

Guymon: "Under that 400 pounds, Dr. Death could not get a shoulder up and the crowd went just crazy. That was probably the second loudest I've heard it at a wrestling event there."

Sheets: "All you could see were a hand on each side of Mitch's body and two feet sticking out the back. The referee slapped the mat and the crowd hit the floor, it was chaos."

Guymon: "Everybody started calling him Dr. Mitch after that."

Shelton: "It hurt the ears, it was real loud. The place went crazy. Every voice I heard was for me, not against me."

"I think by the time I stood up there were people on the mat. I know it wasn't too long before I got hit by the crowd and my teammates."

Sheets: "It'd be about a Bedlam football game if we kicked a winning field goal and then everybody left the bleachers to rush the field and took the goal posts down, there was no room on the floor."

Shelton: "It was a real exciting day in my life, maybe the most exciting."

Oklahoma State University Athletics

What Makes GIA Special - Mitch Shelton Pins Dr. Death

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