Lake Larsen | Sports Editor
Oregon Normal School campus, Monmouth, Oregon, fall of 1927, a handful of bright eyed and hopeful Normal School men looked to bring a new sport to the campus. A small school with only a couple of sports and no mascot became host to one of Oregon’s first wrestling programs. These men started what would be known later as the “Neck Snappers,” the “Back Breakers” — the Monmouth Mat Men.
At the start of the new school year, a group of Normal school men gathered together to start a wrestling team. In its first year as a program, the team never saw a match outside of friendly intra team sparring on the Normal school campus, but in the years to come, the rag tag group of fighters started to develop a reputation.
Great Depression era Oregon was host to only a handful of colleges with wrestling programs. This lack of teams meant the Monmouth Mat Men were forced to bout with untraditional opponents. Ranging from local Portland YMCA’s to Corvallis High school, the Mat Men were ready to take on anyone.
The 1930’s Lamron, Western’s newspaper at the time, was packed full of the weekly action of the wrestlers, and in some cases, showcased the brutality of the sport. It was common to find infirmary updates highlighting the names of wrestlers. From twisted ankles to broken ribs, the Mat Men cemented a reputation of being hardened fighters. But come 1991, there was one opponent that no man could defeat.
Western Oregon State College campus, Monmouth, Oregon, winter of 1990, a team of 27 Western Oregon State College wrestlers began their season as normal. Coaches began to plan for the upcoming meets, wrestlers worked to get in peak condition, and only 20 miles away in a Salem government building, a new measure was making its way onto the upcoming ballot.
Measure 5 aimed to make changes to the property taxes and public school funding within the state. However, these changes would be devastating to a nearly 65 year old program. Rumors started to stir around campus that if Measure 5 was passed, a slew of programs across the campus would be cut. On the rumor mill’s chopping block — was the once mighty Mat Men.
Despite the possibility of losing their team, the Wolves still fought valiantly every meet. As the season grew on and the Oregon state ballots began to be tallied, the wrestlers never surrendered.
In November of 1990, election results started being published — Measure 5 was officially passed. With the new measure over property tax becoming law, school officials had difficult decisions to make.
Despite the new instability of their future, across campus in New PE gym, there was only one fight on the mind of the Mat Men — the National Championship. Four wrestlers were invited to take the trip to Butte, Montana: sophomore Dan Ward, junior Dennis Moore and first-year Jason Ingram. Unsure of the future of their program, the wrestlers geared up and headed out. But little did they know, this would be the last time they, or anyone, would don the red and black singlet for the Wolves.
Upon arriving back home, the Western Star, formerly the Lamron, ran a short, but blunt, message in Volume 2 Issue 17 from Feb. 28, 1991 — “… wrestling had been cut at WOSC in the wake of Measure 5.” The team had decades of seasons full of hard fought wins, but in the fight that mattered most, the Wolves fell short. The 1990-1991 season was the last season of wrestling was recognized as varsity sport. Today, wrestling survives as a club sport on the Western campus.
Contact the author at howlsports@wou.edu
Photo courtesy of omeka.wou.edu
