Takedown Report

Embracing glory

Larry Owings scored the biggest upset in NCAA wrestling history and spent the rest of his life coming to terms with it.
By Mike Seely 
When Larry Owings was growing up in rural Oregon, everyone—his friends, his family, even his teachers—called him by the nickname “Porky.” They did this because he was overweight. “Nowadays, they would call that bullying,” says Owings, now 75. “Back then, you just had to grin and take it. I can’t tell you how deep down inside I was hurting. It inspired me to say, ‘I’m gonna show you someday.’ “ 
Would he ever.
Owings had four older brothers, all of them state wrestling champs at Canby High School. Taking a gander at their baby brother in junior high, none of them expected Larry to wrestle at all, much less earn any kind of hardware. But a life-changing event—or occupation, rather—occurred in the summer before his freshman year.  “I went to work for an old Norwegian dairy farmer,” he recalls. “I hauled hundred-pound bales of hay for him all summer long. Before that, I worked on the farm picking berries, and I hated picking berries. There was no way I was not gonna do good in this job and go back to picking berries.”
Owings’ weight went from about 150 to 130 through the course of his sweaty vocation, and he also grew a couple of inches. In spite of his siblings’ doubts, he joined the Canby wrestling team and worked his way up to varsity at 123 pounds by the end of his freshman year. By the end of his high school career, he would win state championships in both the 136- and 141-pound weight divisions. 
During his senior year, Owings was matched in a tournament with an Iowa State University sophomore named Dan Gable, who was undefeated and already an NCAA champion. Gable won their match rather easily, but Owings managed to score some points – quite a feat for anyone facing a man who would go down as the greatest amateur wrestler of all time. 
After losing to Gable, Owings said he felt like he “had a score to settle.” Two years later, he’d get his chance. 
Triumph, then turmoil
There were a lot of colleges interested in Owings’ wrestling services after high school, but the University of Washington won out.  “I didn’t go to Oregon State because my brothers had gone there,” he explains. “I went up to the U-Dub, beautiful campus, coach was very gung-ho. Jim Smith – he’s still alive, by the way. He’s 90 and lives in Lynnwood. I liked the school, I liked the coach. I wanted to go into architecture, and they had a great architecture program.” 
Owings, ’72, ’75, ’78, pursued an architecture degree for a quarter before he deemed it too difficult and switched to industrial education. Things on the mat went according to plan, however. By the time Owings was a sophomore, he was Pac-8 champion at 158 pounds with the 1970 NCAA tournament on the horizon. … more at … https://magazine.washington.edu/feature/larry-owings-who-scored-the-biggest-upset-in-ncaa-wrestling-history-comes-to-terms-with-fame-more-than-50-years-later/#gsc.tab=0

January 25, 2026 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | college-football, sports, wrestling | Leave a comment