Oh captain, my captain…
In honor of our nation’s birthday, the National Wrestling Hall of Fame has posted throwback photos of Team USA Olympic Wrestling Teams.
These festive photos of the successful 1992 and 1996 teams show the wrestlers in their stars and stripes uniforms alongside honorary team captain… Garth Brooks.
“Garth Brooks was Honorary Team Captain for the USA Wrestling Olympic team in 1992 and 1996.
Here is the 1996 poster featuring Garth with National Wrestling Hall of Fame Distinguished Members Kevin Jackson, Dennis Hall, Bruce Baumgartner, Kurt Angle and Terry Brands.
We have both posters displayed at our museum as well as Olympic gold medals won by Robin Reed in 1924, Bobby Pearce and Jack VanBebber in 1932, Frank Lewis in 1936, Doug Blubaugh in 1960 and John Smith in 1988 and 1992, and Olympic silver medals won by Danny Hodge and Ross Flood.
Garth attended Oklahoma State University on a track scholarship, competing in the javelin, and received his bachelor’s degree in advertising in 1984 and his MBA in 2011.”
What a photo…
Hall of Fame Distinguished Wrestling members from the 1992 team, Bruce Baumgartner, Kevin Jackson and John Smith and again Baumgartner and Jackson, along with Dennis Hall, Kurt Angle and Terry Brands from the 1996 team, are pictured in the photos alongside a stern-faced Brooks in his best red, white and blue flannel.
Though only an honorary captain for these noteworthy Olympic teams, Garth Brooks holds a pretty impressive competitive record of his own, having attended Oklahoma State on a Track and Field scholarship where he competed in the javelin throw. Brooks received his bachelor’s degree in advertising from the university in 1984, and later earned his MBA in 2011.
These posters alongside other neat memorabilia can be seen on display at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Museum.