Joe Henson died in early April. He was one of our nations great men and a true wrestling fan and contributor to the sport. I thought today was an appropriate day to post this.
He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1944 as a member of the class of '45 so as to accelerate his education to get in the fight of WWII.
"...While a midshipman, Joe was elected captain of the wrestling team by his peers (which he considered his greatest honor in sports).
Both he and the Navy team were undefeated in collegiate wrestling. There were no NCAA championships due to World War II, but one of the most prominent wrestling historians declared the Navy teams of that era were the best in the country and probably would have won the NCAA Championships had they been held. During a normal tour of shore duty at the USNA from 1950 to 1952, he was an Instructor of Midshipmen in the Aviation Department and assistant wrestling coach,
which enabled him train for and win the AAU National Freestyle Championships, where he was named Outstanding Wrestler after no opponent scored a point on him. He subsequently competed in the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games and won a bronze medal for his country.
He was the first American ever to beat a Soviet in the Olympic Games, an achievement of considerable note in the days of the Cold War. In 2006, he was installed as a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, joining his older brother and former Naval Academy Assistant Wrestling Coach Dr. Stanley W. Henson. He was elected to the EIWA Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2012 only weeks before his death.
Joe Henson’s sports career also included participation in every Olympic Games from 1952 to 2000 in various capacities, from being the first American referee to be Mat Chairman for a wrestling match in the Olympic Games to serving as Acting President of the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF). He served a four-year term as Chairman of the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Committee and later was elected National President of the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States (AAU), the oldest and largest sports organization in the world dedicated to amateur sports. He also served as Executive Director of the PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE Sports Committee established by President Dwight Eisenhower and was Pitcher-Manager of the 15th Naval District softball team champions. ..."
Bravo Zulu Chief Henson. He was cremated and his ashes were put to rest on the grounds in Annapolis.
http://www.themat.com/article.php?ArticleID=24938
RIP fine sir!
Thanks for posting this, Con. Thanks a million.