2013 Dave Schultz winner Retherford chosen
as 2017 Dan Hodge Trophy recipient
By Bryan Van Kley
WIN Magazine
NEWTON, Iowa — The WIN Magazine/Culture House Dan Hodge Trophy has been awarded to the most dominant collegiate wrestler since 1995. Out of an amazing group of four Hodge finalists this year, Penn State two-time NCAA champ Zain Retherford has been named the 2017 Hodge winner, presented annually to the top collegian by ASICS.
[caption id="attachment_13977" align="alignleft" width="250"]
Zain Retherford with the Hall of Fame's Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award in 2013.[/caption]
“I met Dan Hodge at a National Wrestling Hall of Fame event a few years ago. To win something like this named in his honor is pretty awesome,” said Retherford, who was the winner of the Hall of Fame’s Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award in 2013. “This award symbolizes who he is as a person and competitor.”
The award, created by Culture House’s Mike Chapman, is named after Hodge, who was inducted as a Distinguished Member of the Hall of Fame in the Charter Class of 1976. Hodge was a three-time NCAA champion for the University of Oklahoma from 1955 to 1957, going undefeated over those three years at 46-0 and pinning an amazing 36 of those opponents.
Retherford, who was 28-0 this season and is 95-3 in his career, won a second straight NCAA title at 149 pounds after completely dismantling competitors at the weight for a second straight year. Retherford has won 63 straight matches over the past two years to move his career record to 95-3. And much like his 2015-2016 run of domination, this year’s tally included only two matches in which the Nittany Lion did not score bonus points.
Retherford received 33 of 45 first-place Hodge Trophy votes to win the award known as wrestling’s version of the Heisman Trophy. The Nittany Lion junior finished well ahead of two 2016 Olympic medalists — Missouri’s J’den Cox, who was the Central Region and Missouri winner of the Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award in 2013, and Ohio State’s Kyle Snyder— and sophomore teammate Jason Nolf, whose domination at 157 pounds this past season was stride for stride with Retherford’s stats.
Cox’s third title at 197 featured a 28-0 record with six pins, seven technical falls and seven majors. Snyder, who wrestled only a portion of the college season because he was wrestling overseas in Senior-level freestyle events, had a 17-0 record, with four pins, five techs and four majors at 285 pounds. Nolf had a 28-0 record with 14 pins, eight techs and three majors.
As in past years, WIN Magazine also conducted a national fan vote the week following the NCAAs for the Hodge. Nearly 23,000 unique fans voted with Retherford winning that total with 49 percent of the vote from 11,260 voters, earning him two additional official Hodge first-place ballots. Cox finished second in fan voting as well, with 35 percent of the vote from 8,554 votes. Snyder finished third with seven percent of the total vote with 1,651 fan votes. Nolf was fourth in the fan voting with 1,317 votes for six percent.
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WIN Magazine
NEWTON, Iowa — The WIN Magazine/Culture House Dan Hodge Trophy has been awarded to the most dominant collegiate wrestler since 1995. Out of an amazing group of four Hodge finalists this year, Penn State two-time NCAA champ Zain Retherford has been named the 2017 Hodge winner, presented annually to the top collegian by ASICS.
[caption id="attachment_13977" align="alignleft" width="250"]
Zain Retherford with the Hall of Fame's Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award in 2013.[/caption]“I met Dan Hodge at a National Wrestling Hall of Fame event a few years ago. To win something like this named in his honor is pretty awesome,” said Retherford, who was the winner of the Hall of Fame’s Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award in 2013. “This award symbolizes who he is as a person and competitor.”
The award, created by Culture House’s Mike Chapman, is named after Hodge, who was inducted as a Distinguished Member of the Hall of Fame in the Charter Class of 1976. Hodge was a three-time NCAA champion for the University of Oklahoma from 1955 to 1957, going undefeated over those three years at 46-0 and pinning an amazing 36 of those opponents.
Retherford, who was 28-0 this season and is 95-3 in his career, won a second straight NCAA title at 149 pounds after completely dismantling competitors at the weight for a second straight year. Retherford has won 63 straight matches over the past two years to move his career record to 95-3. And much like his 2015-2016 run of domination, this year’s tally included only two matches in which the Nittany Lion did not score bonus points.
Retherford received 33 of 45 first-place Hodge Trophy votes to win the award known as wrestling’s version of the Heisman Trophy. The Nittany Lion junior finished well ahead of two 2016 Olympic medalists — Missouri’s J’den Cox, who was the Central Region and Missouri winner of the Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award in 2013, and Ohio State’s Kyle Snyder— and sophomore teammate Jason Nolf, whose domination at 157 pounds this past season was stride for stride with Retherford’s stats.
Cox’s third title at 197 featured a 28-0 record with six pins, seven technical falls and seven majors. Snyder, who wrestled only a portion of the college season because he was wrestling overseas in Senior-level freestyle events, had a 17-0 record, with four pins, five techs and four majors at 285 pounds. Nolf had a 28-0 record with 14 pins, eight techs and three majors.
As in past years, WIN Magazine also conducted a national fan vote the week following the NCAAs for the Hodge. Nearly 23,000 unique fans voted with Retherford winning that total with 49 percent of the vote from 11,260 voters, earning him two additional official Hodge first-place ballots. Cox finished second in fan voting as well, with 35 percent of the vote from 8,554 votes. Snyder finished third with seven percent of the total vote with 1,651 fan votes. Nolf was fourth in the fan voting with 1,317 votes for six percent.
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