Attached is the class work of one of the best wrestlers the United States every produced. You can see even in school Yojiro was obsessed with wrestling and he loved the sport. We here at KKW thought this was a wonderful addition to our page and hope everyone enjoys seeing the world through the eyes of the past colored by the lens of wrestling. Below is a quick biography to highlight Uetake's accomplishments. Many wrestlers don't know who Mr. Uetake was and that won't do. After reading the quick biograph please enjoy the assignment attached as a PDF file. Thank you to our supporters to help make this happen this has been a learning experience for everyone invole and I feel the community just got that much closer.
Yojiro Uetake (上武 洋次郎, Uetake Yōjirō, born January 12, 1943) is a Japanese wrestler and two-time Olympic champion in freestyle wrestling. He is considered the greatest wrestler in the history of Oklahoma State University, being the only Cowboy wrestler to have gone undefeated for the entirety of his college career, winning three NCAA Championships. Uetake was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma as a Distinguished Member in 1980.In 2005, he was inducted into the FILA Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.
Life and career
Uetake had originally hoped to learn judo, but was considered too light. He later went on to became a high school wrestling national champion in Japan. The commissioner of the Japanese Wrestling Federation sent Uetake to the Oklahoma State University as a promise to head coach Myron Roderick. Roderick considered him "by far the best wrestler he ever saw or coached". While at Oklahoma State, Uetake was a three-time undefeated NCAA Champion. Later, Uetake went back to Japan as a coach.
Olympics
Uetake competed at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo where he won a gold medal in Freestyle wrestling in the bantamweight class.
He also won a gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics. Despite suffering a separated shoulder in the second round while trailing 0-2, Uetake managed to even the score at 2-2 and ended up with the gold medal in the 57 kg division
Comments