Donald Rumsfeld: Wrestler

Interesting article by Ben McGrath in the April 14, 2003 New Yorker on Donald Rumsfeld's wrestling career, and his famed 1953 bout at the Eastern Intercollegiate championships. The reporter interviewed the participants, for whom Rumsfeld's match remains legendary.

It was presumed that in the 157 lb class, an undefeated Ken Hunt (Cornell) would meet Ed Rooney from Syracuse, but Rumsfeld knocked Rooney out of the tourney in what was considered a huge upset.

"Among his Princeton teammates, Rumsfeld had earned a reputation for quick takedowns. He was an avid practicioner of the fireman's carry... But, amid the tougher competition at the Easterns, Rumsfeld stood out for his superior conditioning and his fierce determination; he was relentless, a bulldog.

"Ed Rooney was what is known as a leg wrestler, attempting to tie his opponents up below the waist and then overpower them...Rooney has since died, but his son, Jim...recalled: "My father fell behind in that match and was trying to catch up. And basically, he spent the last three minutes chasing Donald Rumsfeld all over the mat. Final score: Rumsfeld 6, Rooney 4.

"The championship bout took place later that night, with Rumsfeld, in his orange and black togs, squaring off against Ken Hunt...Hunt said that, in contrast to Rooney, who was aggressive from the start, he liked to 'try to get other wrestlers to make a move first, and I'd react, and just count on my speed to win.' The strategy seemed to work well against Rumsfeld. 'He would go in for this so-called takedown, and see that he couldn't get it, and as he backed off, that's when I would go in and take him down with an ankle pickup,' Hunt said. 'I took him down three times with that, and that was six points right off the bat.' ('Rumsfeld was the kind of wrestler, you knew what he was going to do and he'd do it anyhow,' Don Dickason, a Cornell teammate of Hunt's, said.)

"Still, Rumsfeld wouldn't give up. 'Kenny was an amazingly slick wrestler, just as smooth as can be,' Harvey said, 'but Rumsfeld was obviously in much better condition.'
"'I think I was ahead eight-zip or eight-two,' Hunt said. "And then I began to run out of gas. I had the feeling that he could taste blood, you know, if he could get me real tired - and I was getting tired.'

"In the third period (there are three to a match), Rumsfeld began 'reversing' Hunt. 'He exploited every possible tool,' Hunt said. 'I think we rolled into the spectators at one point.'

"'It was just a thing of beauty, where there'd be a move and a countermove and a countermove,' Dickason said. 'In a way, it didn't matter who got the final points. It was just that both guys were so good.'

"'I frankly don't remember the end of it,' Hunt said. "One of my best friends from high school was at the edge of the mat there, and I remember him saying, 'One more minute!' Don may have gotten one takedown toward the end - gosh, I don't remember. He had sheer will and determination."

"Final score: Hunt 9, Rumsfeld 5. Hunt never wrestled again.

Roger Oleson, who has been called the Boswell of wrestling...has just co-written a book about the 1953 wrestling season, called "The Turning Point." (The preface begins, "Wrestling is not, as some contend, like life. Wrestling _is_ life - reduced to its essence.")

'They've always built Rumsfeld up as being a great wrestler," Oleson said. 'But he wasn't. Rumsfeld, I think, was just a plugger. He would keep coming after you even when the final verdict was no longer in doubt.'"

IRS erroneously paid $30 million in credits for slavery in 2000-2001

Masked Wrestler Wins Japan Assembly Seat

'TIME-TRAVELER' BUSTED FOR INSIDER TRADING