The Lone Star Conference (LSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the South Central states, with schools in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arkansas, with two members in the Pacific Northwest states of Oregon and Washington competing as affiliates for football only.
The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Run of 1889, which initially opened the Unassigned Lands in the future state of Oklahoma to non-native settlement. The university's athletic teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division I in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The university's current athletic director is Joe Castiglione.
Edward Clark Gallagher was an American wrestling coach. He coached at Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College—now known as Oklahoma State University–Stillwater—from 1916 to 1940. With his knowledge of physical principles like leverage and stress, along with anatomy, he all but invented the modern style of folkstyle wrestling. He remains one of the most successful coaches in NCAA athletics history. Overall in his wrestling coaching career at Oklahoma A&M, his teams went 136–5–4, including 19 undefeated seasons and 11 NCAA titles.
Robert Anthony Stoops is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Arlington Renegades of the United Football League (UFL). He was the head football coach at the University of Oklahoma from 1999 through the 2016 season, and on an interim basis during the 2021 Alamo Bowl. He led the Oklahoma Sooners to a record of 191–48 over his career. His 2000 Oklahoma Sooners football team won the 2001 Orange Bowl, which served as the BCS National Championship Game, and earned a consensus national championship. Since 2020, Stoops has been a head coach with the XFL, coaching the Renegades in 2020 and has been re-signed for 2023. Stoops' Renegades won the XFL Championship in 2023.
Kevin Jermaine Ollie is an American basketball coach and former player who most recently was the interim head coach for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Steve Mocco is an American former amateur wrestler, judoka and mixed martial artist. As a collegiate wrestler, he was a two-time NCAA national champion, four-time finalist, and was awarded the Dan Hodge Trophy. In freestyle, he represented the US at the Olympics and was a three-time Pan American Champion. As an MMA fighter, he most notably competed at the WSOF. He is currently a coach at both combat sports, being one of the main coaches at MMA powerhouse American Top Team and an assistant wrestling coach at Lehigh University.
The Missouri Tigers intercollegiate athletics programs represent the University of Missouri, located in Columbia. The name comes from a band of armed Union Home Guards called the Fighting Tigers of Columbia who, in 1864, protected Columbia from Confederate guerrillas during the American Civil War.
The Bedlam Series was the best name given to the Oklahoma–Oklahoma State rivalry. It refers to the athletics rivalry between Oklahoma State University of the Big 12 Conference Cowboys and Cowgirls and the University of Oklahoma Sooners of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Both schools were also members of the Big Eight Conference before the formation of the Big 12 Conference in 1996, and both were divisional rivals in the Big 12 South Division prior to 2011. The rivalry concluded as an annual conference matchup after 2023–24 season, after which Oklahoma joined the SEC. 40 years of the rivalry's games were played without the teams playing in the same conference, and it is possible that the series may continue beyond that date.
The Oklahoma State Cowboys and Cowgirls are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Oklahoma State University, located in Stillwater. The program's mascot is a cowboy named Pistol Pete. Oklahoma State participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) as a member of the Big 12 Conference. The university's current athletic director is Chad Weiberg, who replaced the retiring Mike Holder on July 1, 2021. Oklahoma State has won 55 national titles, including 53 NCAA team national titles, which ranks sixth in most NCAA team national championships. These national titles have come in wrestling (34), golf (11), basketball (2), baseball (1), and cross country (5). Oklahoma State has also won non-NCAA national titles in football (1) and equestrian (1).
Billy Duane Tubbs was an American men's college basketball coach. The Tulsa, Oklahoma native was the head coach of his alma mater Lamar University, the University of Oklahoma (1980–1994) and Texas Christian University (1994–2002). His first head coaching job — from 1971-72 through 1972-73 — was at Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas, where his teams were 12–16 and 19–8. From there he went to the University of North Texas to serve as assistant coach under Gene Robbins and for one year under Bill Blakeley.
Mark Philip Schultz is a former American freestyle wrestler. Schultz was a 3-time NCAA champion, Olympic champion and 2-time World champion. In 1995, Schultz was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member. He is also in the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame, the California Wrestling Hall of Fame, and the San Mateo Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame.
Jack Francis "Blackjack" VanBebber was an American wrestler and Olympic gold medalist at the 1932 Olympic Games in freestyle wrestling.
The Central Oklahoma Bronchos, are the intercollegiate athletic teams representing University of Central Oklahoma, located in Edmond, Oklahoma. The five men's and nine women's varsity teams are called the "Bronchos". The school's identification as Bronchos dates back to 1922, when the wife of football coach Charles W. Wantland suggested it for the school's mascot. The official colors of the teams are bronze and blue, which the institution adopted in 1895. The Bronchos compete in the NCAA's Division II and in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association in all sports except women's rowing, which competes in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. The Bronchos have won 22 national championships, with the most recent coming in 2024 as the wrestling program won the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships. The university's current athletic director is Stan Wagnon, who has served in the position since 2020.
The Cornell Big Red wrestling team represents Cornell University of Ithaca, New York in collegiate wrestling. It is one of the most successful and storied collegiate wrestling programs in the nation with over 20 individual NCAA champions, 43 Ivy League championships, and 28 Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association championships since the program's 1907 founding.
The Oklahoma City Stars are the athletic teams that represent Oklahoma City University, located in Oklahoma City, in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), primarily competing in the Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC) for most of its sports since the 1986–87 academic year. The Stars previously competed at the NCAA Division I ranks, primarily competing in the Midwestern City Conference from 1979–80 to 1984–85; in the D-I Trans America Athletic Conference during the 1978–79 school year, and as a Division I independent prior to that. Its women's wrestling team competed in the Women's College Wrestling Association (WCWA).
Eugene Lee "Gene" Davis is an American former wrestler. He was born and raised in Missoula, Montana. He was Olympic bronze medalist in freestyle wrestling in 1976. Davis was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member in 1985.
The Central Oklahoma Bronchos football team represents the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) in college football. The team is a member of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA), which is in Division II of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The Bronchos football program began in 1902 and has since compiled over 600 wins, two national championships, and 27 conference championships. As of 2022, the Bronchos are ranked fifth in NCAA Division II for wins. In 1962, the Bronchos went 11–0 on the season and defeated Lenoir–Rhyne University (NC) 28–13 in the Camellia Bowl to claim its first NAIA national championship. Twenty years later, Central Oklahoma defended its home turf and defeated Colorado Mesa University 14–11 in the NAIA national championship game to take its second title and finish the season with a 10–2 record. Despite its rich history in football, Central Oklahoma has struggled beginning in the late 2000s. The program has not participated in the NCAA Division II playoffs since 2003. The Bronchos play their home games at Chad Richison Stadium, a 12,000-seat football stadium built in 1965, and remodeled in 2022. The Bronchos have enjoyed nine undefeated home seasons and are 5–1 in playoff games at Wantland Stadium.
Eric Guerrero is a retired amateur American freestyle wrestler, who competed in the men's lightweight category. He won three consecutive NCAA (1997–1999) and four U.S. Open titles (2001–2004), scored two medals in the 58 and 60-kg division at the Pan American Games, and represented the United States at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
The SIU Edwardsville Cougars wrestling team represents Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) as an associate member of the Mid-American Conference of NCAA Division I wrestling. The Cougars host their home matches at the Sam M. Vadalabene Center on the university's campus in Edwardsville, Illinois, United States. The Cougars current head coach is Jeremy Spates who took over the program in 2013.
Porter Glen "Port" Robertson was a former amateur freestyle wrestler and successful collegiate and Olympic wrestling coach. Robertson led the University of Oklahoma wrestling team to three NCAA wrestling championships in the 1950s and coached the United States freestyle wrestling team to three gold medals in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy.
M. Fessler, Faith and Wrestling: How the Role of a Wrestler Mirrors the Christian Life, (Bloomington, IN: Westbow Press, 2015). - originally published in 2014 with Crossbooks publishing
