Better than Cael Sanderson....for sure.

[MedicineMan 436]

 

In 1966, a high school sophomore named Siddidi Finch, an adopted Iranian-born foster child from Oak Park, Illinois, whose parents died in a plane crash near Nepal, entered the Tbilisi tournament in Georgia and won... defeating 5-time world champ Ali Aliyev.  He was denied the championship' however, when it was discovered he did not meet the minimum age requirement of 18 years.

He never wrestled in high school folk style matches and only pursued freestyle. The majority of his training during his teen years occurred in Japan, where he was coached by the father of Yojiro Uetake Obata, and accompanied the elder Uetake on many trips to Tibet to learn yogic mastery of mind-body under the great poet-saint Lama Milaraspa.  The elder Uetake when asked about the wrestling skills of the teenage Finch, stated:  "Siddidi has taught my son, Yojiro, many skills."

He did however, after graduating high school, walk on at Portland State university, where he twice defeated Rick Sanders in wrestle offs, but was denied a starting spot in the line up because of "academic performance"... The truth is, Finch rarely attended classes, other than to take exams, and in fact his GPA was a 4.0, but the University staff frowned on his absences from the classroom.

After the debacle at Portland State, Finch decided not to pursue a wrestling career, instead choosing to play the French horn or golf or something.  What if.... Imagine how great he would have been.

Below is the only known photo of Finch, sparring with Yojo, taken by his father:

 

 

 

 

[HurricaneWrestling2 671]

Great article.  On a related note, I recently discovered an old 8mm film from the 1940s of Lama Milaraspa teaching a technique similar to the Granby roll series.  He covers many advanced moves that have been lost through the years.  I've taught these to a few of my middle school wrestlers and they're now beating the high school starters, which includes several state-placers. 

I've decided to convert the film to DVD and plan on marketing it as a service to the wrestling community.  I'll only be charging enough to cover my production costs.  Since I only plan to produce a limited run, I'll be offering forum readers an opportunity to reserve a copy for a minimal fee.  Watch  this space for additional information.

[Marcus Cisero 341]

great story - thanks for sharing.

[MadMardigain 1,362]

Clearly would tech Dake.  

[Broomstick 71]

20 minutes ago, MadMardigain said:

Clearly would tech Dake.  

And lose to Taylor by less than 5.

[Tommy Payan 59]

.....and Bubba would pin him with a cradle.........

[klehner 447]

How fast was his fastball?

[witwhiz 39]

"Sidd Finch is a fictional baseball player, the subject of the notorious April Fools' Day hoax article "The Curious Case of Sidd Finch" written by George Plimpton and first published in the April 1, 1985, issue of Sports Illustrated."

[Wrestleknownothing 439]

3 hours ago, witwhiz said:

"Sidd Finch is a fictional baseball player, the subject of the notorious April Fools' Day hoax article "The Curious Case of Sidd Finch" written by George Plimpton and first published in the April 1, 1985, issue of Sports Illustrated."

I too was going to ask if he was related to Sidd Finch.

https://www.si.com/sports-illustrated/2020/04/01/sidd-finch-april-fools-article-george-plimpton-lane-stewart-joe-berton

This is a "men of a certain age" type thing

 

[Wrestleknownothing 439]

4 hours ago, klehner said:

How fast was his fastball?

169 mph