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Gorriaran Trivia

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Wrestleknownothing

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As we grind to our summer halt on wrestling talk I thought I would dust off some stuff.

The Gorriaran Award was introduced in 1949. Named after Manuel Gorriaran (NWHOF bio), the award goes to the wrestler who has the most total pins in the least amount of time.

PJ Duke won the Gorriaran Award this year with 2 pins. Duke took 3:34 to complete the pair of pins. That ranks him fifth of ten on the list of two-pin winners.
  • Can you name the other nine two-pin winners?
Duke became Penn State's fifth Gorriaran winner.
  • Which school's wrestlers have won the most Gorriarans?
Five wrestlers have won the Gorriaran twice.
  • How many of the five two-timers can you name?
The two-time winners racked up an impressive 39 total pins on the way to their awards.
  • Can you name the wrestler with the most pins while winning the Gorriaran?
  • Can you name the wrestler with the least pins while winning the Gorriaran?
Bonus:
  • Name the 2 Oklahoma State wrestlers to win the Gorriaran.
 
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B

Btbw1968

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Johnny Thompson and Thomas Landrum is a guess. They could pin from about anywhere and anybody.
 
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Wrestleknownothing

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Btbw1968 said:
Johnny Thompson and Thomas Landrum is a guess. They could pin from about anywhere and anybody.
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Close. Landrum had 5 pins in 1980, but so did Oregon State's Howard Harris who did it in less time.

Thompson never had more than one in a tournament.

Hint: One of the two Oklahoma State wresters to win actually did it twice.
 
B

Btbw1968

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I remember Coleman Scott had a ton of pins his freshman year, but not sure how fast they were.
 
I

ionel

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Wrestleknownothing said:
the award goes to the wrestler who has the most total pins in the least amount of time.

PJ Duke won the Gorriaran Award this year with 2 pins. Duke took 3:34 to complete the pair of pins. That ranks him fifth of ten on the list of two-pin winners.
  • Can you name the other nine two-pin winners?

  • an impressive 39 total pins on the way to their awards.
  • Can you name the wrestler with the most pins while winning the Gorriaran?
  • Can you name the wrestler with the least pins while winning the Gorriaran?
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Wrestleknownothing said:
No sir. Mocco had 2 pins in 2006, but Mark Peery led the way with 4 that year.
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Wrestleknownothing said:
It was his sophomore year (2006) that he had three pins on his way to fifth, but that was the year Mark Perry won with four.
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Wrestleknownothing said:
He pinned his way to third. O'Toole won the Gorriaran in 2024 with pins in his first three matches before losing to Carr in the semis.
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Glad to see you've finally turned the corner. Welcome to the real world of wrestling. Perhaps its just that you hired some new interns but whatever ... well done! :)
 
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Wrestleknownothing

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ionel said:
Glade to see you've finally turned the corner. Welcome to the real world of wrestling. Perhaps its just that you hired some new interns but whatever ... well done! :)
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I broke out in hives while typing those.

Pinfall, pinfall, pinfall.

There. I feel much better.
 
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newguy123

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Chandler Rogers??
Pendleton?
Espo?
Teague Moore?

Im just gonna keep listing studs haha
 
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Wrestleknownothing

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newguy123 said:
Chandler Rogers??
Pendleton?
Espo?
Teague Moore?

Im just gonna keep listing studs haha
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Not a bad strategy. The two guys finished first, second, and third when they won the Gorriaran.

But if all you do is list Oklahoma State studs you will be here for a while. Sadly, these are not the studs we are looking for.
 
chasepollard

chasepollard

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Wrestleknownothing said:
Not a bad strategy. The two guys finished first, second, and third when they won the Gorriaran.

But if all you do is list Oklahoma State studs you will be here for a while. Sadly, these are not the studs we are looking for.
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Eh, what non-stud would’ve won that award?
 
NCcowboy

NCcowboy

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Wrestleknownothing said:
Not a bad strategy. The two guys finished first, second, and third when they won the Gorriaran.

But if all you do is list Oklahoma State studs you will be here for a while. Sadly, these are not the studs we are looking for.
Click to expand...
Jimmy Jackson?
Kendall Cross?
Kenny Monday?
 
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Wrestleknownothing

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chasepollard said:
Was David a two time winner?

Nolf?

School with most winners is Iowa State, Missouri or Oklahoma State.
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Taylor was. He had 8 pins across two tournaments. Both good for the Gorriaran. And Taylor's two folloẁed Ed Ruth, making it 3 in a row for the bad guys. Nolf never pulled it off.
 
chasepollard

chasepollard

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Wrestleknownothing said:
Taylor was. He had 8 pins across two tournaments. Both good for the Gorriaran. And Taylor's two folloẁed Ed Ruth, making it 3 in a row for the bad guys. Nolf never pulled it off.
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Someone after David did it too. Or around him? Nickal? Maybe Retherford?

What about the schools? Mizzou? Or shoot, is it Penn State?
 
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Wrestleknownothing

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NCcowboy said:
I thought Pat Smith had 3 his final year, but someone else must have had more or less time. Must be from pre 1980 or one of us would have gotten this
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It may surprise you to learn that Pat Smith only had 2 pins in his four title runs, one as a freshman and one as a junior.

One of the two wrestlers is pre-1980, but the other is post-1980.
 
NCcowboy

NCcowboy

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Wrestleknownothing said:
It may surprise you to learn that Pat Smith only had 2 pins in his four title runs, one as a freshman and one as a junior.

One of the two wrestlers is pre-1980, but the other is post-1980.
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I clearly mis remembered as he had 2 tech falls his final year. I looked this up and never would have got this- never heard of the hwt pre 1980 and would not have guessed the post 1980 wrestler but vaguely remember him. Great trivia question.
 
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Wrestleknownothing

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Anon1751751898 said:
Rickie Stewart, I know he pinned Dave Schultz in the finals off a fireman's carry I believe. If you pinned Schultz you might have pinned several other wrestlers.
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Surprisingly Schultz was his only pin that year.

Another hint. For students of the eras it would be good to know that one of the Gorrarian winners wrestled Unlimited and one wrestled 126.
 
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Btbw1968

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Thinking through a heavyweight that pinned was Wyatt Hendrickson. I think he pinned his way through the quarter finals with two of the falls in first period. That seems to fit the bill. that is not going to work as it was unlimited. I have no idea if McCready was a pinner or not, but he won a lot of championships in the unlimited era. Dick Hutton would be the other guess. My old high school coach married Ross Flood's daughter and for some reason I think he was a pinner.
 
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Wrestleknownothing

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Btbw1968 said:
Thinking through a heavyweight that pinned was Wyatt Hendrickson. I think he pinned his way through the quarter finals with two of the falls in first period. That seems to fit the bill. that is not going to work as it was unlimited. I have no idea if McCready was a pinner or not, but he won a lot of championships in the unlimited era. Dick Hutton would be the other guess. My old high school coach married Ross Flood's daughter and for some reason I think he was a pinner.
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Hendrickson did win a Gorriaran, but it was while he was with Air Force. In 2025 he tied for the most pins (3), but lost to Cam Steed on total time (7:25 to 7:00).

McCready's time was before the award existed (1949) and Hutton straddled the line. In 1949 Hutton had 2 pins, but Northern Iowa's Russ Bush won the award with 3 pins.

The McCready guess got me thinking about who would have won between 1928 and 1948 had the award existed then.

The good news is Oklahoma State would have picked up another four Gorriarans. And McCready would have had two of them.



Fun Fact: Cornell (IA)'s Dick Hauser would have won in 1947 by beating his own teammate (Dale Thomas) by one second. They each had three pins. Hauser did it in 10:49 while it took Thomas 10:50.

Fun Fact 2: 1? 1946 was a weird year. The tournament was small due to many GIs not having returned yet. There were only 6 pins in the tournament by six different guys. So it would have been the only time the Gorriaran winner did it with a solitary pin.
 
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Btbw1968

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I could only think of Joe James, but he was not really a pinner. Whomever the Heavyweight was might not have been a champ.

Mitch Shelton had a lot of falls. If you were on your back you were pinned.
 
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