Robin Reed

Robin Reed was America’s greatest wrestler in the pre-WW2 era, and possibly the greatest ever. In a career that began in high school, and then at Oregon State, he was never defeated, winning three AAU titles in 1921, 1922, and 1924. He was not tremendously strong but worked endlessly on improving his moves to better himself. He was also a bit of a character. While hitchhiking his way across the country to join the 1924 Olympic team in New York, he stopped at Iowa State and asked the coach if he could work out when the team came to practice. When the coach refused, Reed asked if he could if he pinned every man on the team. He then stood in the doorway and grabbed each team member as he came to practice, pinning all of them in quick succession. Reed weighed only 135 lbs., but at the Paris Olympics he won a bet when he pinned Harry Steel, the American heavyweight gold medalist, five times within 15 minutes. After retiring from a short, yet brilliant competitive career, Reed went into coaching and had a short stay as a professional wrestler before becoming a land developer on the Oregon coast.