WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Pat Smith made history By Gary Abbott
College wrestling fans enjoyed the amazing run of Cornell’s Kyle Dake, the first four-time NCAA champion in four dif- ferent weights.
With his victory in Des Moines this
year, Dake became only the third four- time Division I champion in history. You have to go back 19 college sea- sons to identify the man who broke down the barrier and became the first four-time NCAA champion, Pat Smith of Oklahoma State. You probably have heard of his family. One of his older brothers is John Smith, the current Oklahoma State coach, who won two Olympic gold medals, four World titles and two NCAA titles.
The oldest wrestling brother was Lee
Roy, a Cowboy NCAA champion, World silver medalist and now Executive Director of the Wrestling Hall of Fame. Another brother Mark was an All- American for the Cowboys. His nephews include two-time NCAA champion Mark Perry and 2013 NCAA champion Chris Perry. Pat Smith is from wrestling royalty. “It was definitely to my advantage to have older brothers like Lee Roy and John. With John, I saw how he trained and dedicated himself to the sport and his attitude about winning. He wouldn’t accept anything except first place. I was fortunate to work out with him, and it rubbed off on me,” said Pat. As a small child, Pat’s dream was to be an Olympic wrestling champion. It was not until high school that winning NCAA titles became one of his goals. As one of the nation’s top wrestling recruits, he could have wrestled anywhere. “I always wanted to wrestle at Oklahoma State. When I was six years old and watched Lee Roy at a dual meet run out in that orange singlet, I was hooked,” said Pat. “I won Junior Nationals after my junior year and tech falled almost everybody. But, I didn’t get recruit- ed a lot. I think everybody thought I’d go to OSU. I considered Nebraska because my brother-in-law Mark Perry was there, but I went to Oklahoma State.” Pat made the lineup for the Cowboys as a true freshman, and was pinned in his first match by No 3 ranked Dan Russell of Portland State. However, as the season went on, Pat Smith began to
32 USA Wrestler
Oklahoma State’s Pat Smith was the NCAA’s first four-time champion.
realize that he was already competing at a national level.
“The biggest challenge was believing I could actually compete at that level as a freshman. As the season went on, I was getting better. By the end of the year, I won the Big Eight, beating Matt Hamilton. A few days later, I was No. 1 seed at the nationals. When I saw that, I knew then and there I was good enough to win it. That boosted my confidence. This was not a pipe dream. I believed I was the top guy and I’m going to go in and win it.” Pat Smith wrestled up to his expecta- tions, winning the 1990 NCAA title at 158 pounds, beating Scott Schleicher of Navy, 11-7 in the finals. In his mind, this was his best NCAA performance of his entire career.
“It was my dominant year. Just because I was a little more naïve, I didn’t look at the big picture. I didn’t have any pressure. I wasn’t defending anything. I cut loose. I dominated the tournament. I didn’t have a close match except perhaps in the finals,” he said.
Once you win the NCAAs as a fresh- man, people notice. At the time, there was never a four-timer ever since fresh-
men became eligible to compete in the early 1970s. Being from the famous Smith family put even more spotlight on his opportunities.
Pat Smith developed an ability to win the big matches when it most counted. He had an effective style for a middle weight, and he remained at 158 pounds for his entire career.
“I had strength to go with quickness and speed. I could get the low single on anybody. I could ride well on top. I was never held down more than 10 seconds in any of my matches. I was never on bottom; I got out with my standup. By not being ridden, it gave me a fighting chance in every match,” said Pat. His sophomore year, in the NCAA finals at Iowa, he defeated Hawkeye star Tom Ryan in the finals by a razor-thin 7-6 mar- gin. His junior year featured a finals victo- ry over Ray Miller of Arizona State, 3-1, in front of his home fans in Oklahoma City. After a redshirt year in 1993, Smith returned for his senior year, and was the buzz of the wrestling community. Could Pat Smith become the first four-timer? “My fourth was the most difficult. I was Continued on page 33
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