Wrestling fans have been treated to a special era of Black wrestling success over the last four years at the NCAA Wrestling Championships, a sport with deep roots in Black history.
2021
In 2021, wrestling returned after the 2020 Pandemic, and 10 NCAA champions were crowned in St. Louis- five of them were Black.
For the culture, 5 NCAA champs
— David Carr (@Carrchamp) March 21, 2021
5 African Americans #history ???????????????? pic.twitter.com/uGqcszXw96
Roman Bravo-Young of Penn State (133 lbs.), David Carr of Iowa St. (157 lbs.), Carter Starocci of Penn State (174 lbs.), Aaron Brooks of Penn State (184 lbs.) and Gable Steveson of Minnesota (285 lbs.) all won titles and jump started this historic era in Black wrestling history.
Less than three months later at the Pandemic-delayed Summer Games in Tokyo, Tamyra Mensah-Stock made history by becoming the first African-American woman and second American woman overall (Helen Maroulis, 2016 Rio Games) to win Olympic gold when she defeated Nigeria’s Blessing Oborududu in Women’s Freestyle 68kg.
A few days later, Steveson etched his name in the record books by becoming the fourth African-American wrestler to win Olympic gold after rallying from a 5-8 deficit with 20 seconds remaining to defeat Georgia’s Geno Petriashvili 9-8.
That fall, Steveson returned to the campus at the University of Minnesota and prepared to defend his NCAA title while Bravo-Young, Carr, Starocci and Brooks did the same.
In October 2021, Morgan State announced it was reviving its once dominant wrestling program after a 24-year hiatus and was hiring Kenny Monday, the first African American wrestler to win Olympic gold (1988), as the team’s head coach. This year, the Bears became the sole DI HBCU wrestling program in the country.
2022
Five months later at the 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships in Detroit, four Black champions defended their titles.
The Nittany Lions’ Bravo-Young was a back-to-back champion at 133 lbs. His teammates, Carter Starocci (174 lbs) and Aaron Brooks (184 lbs) also defended their 2021 titles.
Joining them was Steveson, who not only defended his title but also closed out one of the most impressive and dominant careers in NCAA history, which included a 52-match win streak.
Iowa State’s David Carr took third.
Overall, there were 7 Black finalists. This included the four champions, Kizhan Clarke of North Carolina (2nd at 141 lb), Quincy Monday of Princeton (2nd at 157 lb) and Mekhi Lewis of Virginia Tech, who finished second to Penn State’s Carter Starocci at 174 lbs.
