At the 2021 NCAA wrestling championships, history was made when five Black champions representing three different schools were crowned.
It was a proud moment for Gable Steveson (Minnesota), Aaron Brooks (Penn St.), Carter Starocci (Penn St.), David Carr (Iowa St.) and Roman Bravo-Young (Penn St.).
It was also a moment to reflect on the history made that day and the history of Black wrestling that preceded it.
That history began with Harold Henson in 1949. Two years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball, the 136-pound Henson drove to Colorado and made history as the first Black man to compete at the national wrestling championships.
While the San Diego State wrestler didn’t place at the event, he secured his place in history and opened the doors for others like Simon Roberts, Arthur Baker, Bobby Douglas, Kenny Monday, Daniel Cormier and Jordan Burroughs to follow through.
That history was on display again at the 2022 championships and again last night at the 2023 championships in Tulsa, home to Black history through the Greenwood District, otherwise known as Black Wall Street.
Last year, Steveson finished his college career with both an Olympic gold medal and back-to-back NCAA 285 lbs. titles. This year, the other four wrestlers returned to the championships for another title shot.
Roman Bravo-Young has been a dominant force in the 133 lbs. division since arriving at Penn State in 2018. As a freshman, he placed eighth at the NCAA championships and became an All-American. The pandemic forced the cancellation of the NCAA tournament in 2020 but when it returned in 2021, Roman asserted himself in the division.
He won his first NCAA title that year and defended his title in 2022 as a senior. With another year of eligibility due to the pandemic, Roman returned this season as a grad student. A five-time All-American and two-time NCAA champion, Bravo-Young (20-0) made it back to the finals riding a 56-match win streak, the longest active winning streak in the country. While he didn’t secure his third consecutive title, finishing second to Cornell’s Vito Arujau, Roman secured his place in Penn State and NCAA wrestling history as one of the best to do it at 133 lbs.
Roman wasn’t the only Nittany Lion on the mat Saturday night as teammates Carter Starocci and Aaron Brooks were also defending their titles.
At 174 lbs., Starocci has dominated since redshirting his freshman year. He won his first NCAA title in 2021 and last year he went 23-0 and ultimately defended his title by defeating Mekhi Lewis of Virginia Tech in a thrilling match. This year the junior and 2x All-American wasted no time and became a 3x NCAA champion by pinning Nebraska’s Mikey Labriola in the first round.
He was followed by teammate Aaron Brooks, who was defending his title at 184 lbs.
And like his teammate, Brooks, a 2x NCAA champion, dominated UNI’s Parker Keckeisen in the championship match 7-2 to win his third-straight NCAA title.
Penn State also had success in the heavyweight division, with Greg Kerkvliet taking second at 285 lbs. The junior, a 2x All-American, took fourth at last year’s tournament.
The four Nittany Lions helped Penn State secure the overall NCAA wrestling title.
But the tournament also featured other wrestlers outside of Happy Valley with important ties to Black wrestling history.
David Carr, the senior 3x All-American and 2021 NCAA 157 lbs. champion from Iowa St., moved up to 165 lbs and finished second to Missouri’s Keegan O’Toole. Carr, a First Team Academic All-Big 12 athlete, hails from a family with a rich tradition in the sport.
His father, Nate Carr, was a dominant force on the mat for the Cyclones, winning three NCAA championships between 1981–1983. He was also a bronze medalist at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. David’s uncle, Jimmy, made the U.S. Olympic team in 1972 at the age of just 17. And his older brother, Nate Carr Jr., is a former wrestler for the Cyclones and is now an assistant coach at Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania.
Then there’s Princeton’s Quincy Monday, who took third at 165 lbs. on Saturday.
Monday, like Carr, has wrestling in his DNA. He’s the son of wrestling legend Kenny Monday, the first Black U.S. wrestler to win Olympic gold (Seoul, 1988). Kenny Monday, a wrestling Hall of Famer, 3x Olympic medalist, 3x All-American and NCAA Champion for Oklahoma St., is the head wrestling coach at Morgan State, the sole HBCU institution to field a D1 varsity wrestling program.
Quincy, a 3x All-American, made history himself at Princeton. He’s the program’s first Black All-American and one of only four Tigers with two top-three NCAA finishes. He was also born in Tulsa.
The tournament also featured the aforementioned New Jersey native and 3x All-American, Mekhi Lewis of Virginia Tech. The redshirt senior made history in 2019 when, as the no.8 seed, he won the NCAA 165 lbs. title, becoming Virginia Tech wrestling’s first individual national champion. The 2019 NCAA Championships’ Most Outstanding Wrestler, Lewis finished second twice at the NCAA championships (165, 174 lbs.) and took fourth this year.
And we also got to see 3x All-American Michael McGee from Arizona St., who took third at 133 lbs.
In a sport where, according to the NCAA Demographics Database, only 6% of men’s DI wrestlers in 2022 identified as Black, it’s impressive to witness the dominance of that small group at the NCAA championships.
The rich tradition of Black collegiate wrestlers continues and with athletes like Starocci and Brooks, expect that history and success to repeat itself at the 2024 NCAA championships and, hopefully, the Olympics.
