The Dream Team of 1947 - The story of how a small Iowa college upset all the major powers to win the NCAA Wrestling Championship in 1947.
Every once in a while something happens in the world of sports that reminds us all why we care about such things. This book is the remarkable, untold story of the greatest team you’ve never heard of, the wrestling team of Cornell College, a private Methodist liberal arts college with only 415 male students, which won the NCAA wrestling championship in 1947, defeating all the major powers by a substantial margin. This tiny Iowa college thus became the first school outside of the state of Oklahoma ever to win the team championship since teams were officially recognized by the NCAA; no other private school before or since has done so. Not only that, but with the help of the town of Mount Vernon, and a fund-raising drive, the champions traveled to San Francisco and won the equally prestigious National AAU championship two weeks later, thus completing the “grand slam” of amateur wrestling. The Dream Team of 1947 is a classic David and Goliath story that transcends the sport.
By Arno P. Niemand
141 pages
Hardcover