1997
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May 1997
Wrestling legend Nichols dies
restling has lost a legend. Harold Nichols, Iowa State's most
successful coach, died Feb. 22 in Ames. He was 79.Nichols coached the Cyclone wrestlers to six national team championships and seven conference titles. He was a soft-spoken, private man who collected pottery and considered his wrestlers family. He also was a hard-nosed coach regarded as a great motivator.
Simply known as "Nick" to the wrestling world, Nichols built Iowa State into a national powerhouse. Nichols came to Iowa State for the 1954 season after serving five years as head coach at Arkansas State University. His first Cyclone team went 8-0. He coached the Cyclones for 32 seasons, through 1985.
His teams won 456 dual meets with 75 losses and 11 ties. In addition to a half-dozen NCAA titles, Nichols' teams were national runners-up 11 times and finished third eight times.
In a 27-year span from 1957 through 1983, only once did the Cyclones finish below fourth place in the national meet, an uncharacteristic 30th in 1962. Three years later, Nichols won his first NCAA title, nipping Big Eight Conference foe Oklahoma State by one point. The 1965 title started a nine-year run that included five national titles, three runner-up awards and a third-place finish.
Harry Burrell, Iowa State's sports information director from the 1940s through the 1970s, worked closely with Nichols. Burrell recalled once watching Nichols accept a runner-up plaque at the conclusion of an NCAA meet.
"Nick just shook his head and said quietly, 'This is not the one,' meaning this was not the plaque he wanted," Burrell said. "His attitude was, 'You don't go for second place, you go for the championship.' "
Burrell laughed when he recalled another Nichols memory. "He was a
terrible driver, perhaps because he always seemed to have wrestling on
his mind," he said.
Known for frugality, Nichols often took his teams to meets in cars. Ten wrestlers and a manager or two could fit into two station wagons driven by Nichols and Burrell.
"The veteran wrestlers who knew about Nick's driving would come up to me and ask, 'Harry, what car are you driving?' " Burrell said.
Nichols had good relationships with his wrestlers and was always loyal to them. One recruit that got away from Nichols was Bobby Douglas, the Cyclones' current coach. Nichols later hired Douglas, who is African American, as an assistant coach. It was Douglas' first collegiate coaching position.
"Nick was ahead of his time concerning race relations," Douglas said. "He was a pioneer in bringing minorities into wrestling. And not only African Americans, but also Hispanics and Cubans.
"Nick took me under his wing. He wanted me to become a coach. He thought it was important to have role models for minorities."
A native of Cresco and a high school wrestler, Nichols never won a state high school wrestling championship. But he did capture Big 10 Conference and NCAA titles as a 145-pound University of Michigan wrestler in 1939. After serving in the Air Corps in World War II, he received a degree from the University of Illinois and Michigan.
Nichols' Cyclone wrestlers won 38 individual NCAA and 91 individual Big Eight championships and seven Olympic medals. Three of his Cyclones earned medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Dan Gable and Ben Peterson won golds and Chris Taylor earned a bronze.
Away from wrestling, Nichols was an avid collector. He loved pottery
and owned a seven-foot-tall vase, considered one of the world's largest.
In 1983, he and the vase went to New York City and appeared on Late
Night with David Letterman.
Nichols was named national coach of the year three times and Wrestling Man of the Year by Amateur Wrestling News. He is a member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, the Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Helms Foundation Wrestling Hall of Fame.
"He is part of the history of collegiate wrestling," Douglas said.
Steve Jones, News Service
The Iowa Stater, Stater@iastate.edu, University Relations
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