His nickname was "Moose" -maybe because of his home town in Saskatchewan, Canada, but more likely because of Earl McCready's stature as the first great heavyweight wrestler of the collegiate events.

International recruiting was unheard-of in the mid-1920s, but in 1926 Fendley Collins and two teammates from Oklahoma State drove to Vancouver and won the Canadian national freestyle tournament. They liked the looks of the strapping 220-pound youngster named McCready and talked him into following them back to their campus.

Under the guidance of coach Edward C. Gallagher, he won every match for three years, all but three of them by falls. He was the anchor man, the cleanup hitter, for three undefeated championship teams. "We never worried if the match was close," one of his teammates recalls. "We knew Moose would get them, and he always did."

McCready wrestled in the first three NCAA tournaments in 1928-29-30, and won the championship each year, thus becoming the first three-time champion in collegiate history. It was 20 years before another heavyweight could match that. In the 1928 finals, he won by a fall in 19 seconds, still a record for an NCAA meet held under collegiate rules.

He also won four national freestyle championships, one in the United States and three in Canada, and represented Canada in the 1928 Olympic Games, carrying his country's banner in the opening ceremonies. He won a gold medal in the 1930 British Empire Games.

As a collegiate athlete, McCready was a three-year football letterman at guard, winning all-star honors in 1929.

He wrestled professionally for 28 years, including a match in the famed Royal Albert Hall in London. He was the first wrestler to demonstrate the sport on British television.

As a wrestler of great achievement, one who set the pattern for those who followed, Earl Gray McCready is honored as a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.