A question for the Historians on the board

[GockeS 549]

I was going thru some old wrestling stuff and found a 2010 wrestling USA magazine, that had the 1946 all americans (top4) listed.

read thru and found at 165 Harold Boker, Nebraska took third.

It lists his hometown as York, NE.

I had never heard of the guy, and I know that most schools in nebraska didn't have wrestling until the 60's. So I did some research and found he was in the military, so i assume he learned to wrestle there.  Then I found something that said he died in his hometown of Arlington in 1991.

Hitting brick walls in both York and Arlington yearbooks, I decided to check the NU pages, and he isn't even listed as an All American.  Newt Copple in 1942, then Herb Reese in 1949, are the closest.

Anyone know anything about him?

or maybe one of these guys?

1946

165

1st David Shapiro   Illinois, Joliet

2nd George Walker OSU, Geary, OK

3rd Boker

4th Gene Glass  Kent State, Newton Falls, Ohio

[jchapman 1,340]

Boker went to Omaha Central High School and was a state champ in '41 (135 lbs) and '42 (138 lbs).

Edited April 5 by jchapman

[GockeS 549]

holy cow that was fast

why would it list his hometown as york? 

Do you know his family? 

THANK YOU!!

Edited April 5 by GockeS

[jchapman 1,340]

46 minutes ago, GockeS said:

holy cow that was fast

why would it list his hometown as york? 

Do you know his family? 

THANK YOU!!

Never heard of the guy before but plugged him into the Google machine and found out about him.

[JAD 40]

NATIONAL WRESTLING HALL OF FAME

Harold Boker

High School: Omaha Central, Nebraska

1-Time All-American

• All-Americans
• NCAA Records

SEASON	SCHOOL	TOURNAMENT	WEIGHT	PLACE
1946	Nebraska	Division I	165	3

[JAD 40]

http://www.wrestlingstats.com/ncaa/pdf/brackets/NCAA 1946.pdf

[GockeS 549]

15 minutes ago, jchapman said:

Never heard of the guy before but plugged him into the Google machine and found out about him.

my first searches i put in York, so didn't get anything

after i put in nebraska and wrestling i got a bit more

thanks both of you!!

[gimpeltf 2,089]

How would you like to be Burl Boring? Besides the name- the only guy that didn't place at the weight!

[Coach_J 2,188]

15 minutes ago, gimpeltf said:

How would you like to be Burl Boring? Besides the name- the only guy that didn't place at the weight!

Just a tad less than being Mean Gene Glass, who "placed" fourth without winning a bout!

Edited April 5 by Coach_J

[ISUChip 69]

[GockeS 549]

holy cow you are amazing!

[GockeS 549]

Im still wondering why it would have listed york as his hometown

[ionel 2,749]

1 hour ago, gimpeltf said:

How would you like to be Burl Boring? Besides the name- the only guy that didn't place at the weight!

Little known fact, Dean Heil's great uncle.  

[fadzaev2 549]

4 hours ago, GockeS said:

I was going thru some old wrestling stuff and found a 2010 wrestling USA magazine, that had the 1946 all americans (top4) listed.

read thru and found at 165 Harold Boker, Nebraska took third.

It lists his hometown as York, NE.

I had never heard of the guy, and I know that most schools in nebraska didn't have wrestling until the 60's. So I did some research and found he was in the military, so i assume he learned to wrestle there.  Then I found something that said he died in his hometown of Arlington in 1991.

Hitting brick walls in both York and Arlington yearbooks, I decided to check the NU pages, and he isn't even listed as an All American.  Newt Copple in 1942, then Herb Reese in 1949, are the closest.

Anyone know anything about him?

or maybe one of these guys?

1946

165

1st David Shapiro   Illinois, Joliet

2nd George Walker OSU, Geary, OK

3rd Boker

4th Gene Glass  Kent State, Newton Falls, Ohio

http://www.wrestlingstats.com/ncaa/pdf/brackets/NCAA 1946.pdf

He was 3rd that year.

 

Looks like he's in the National Wrestlilng Hall of Fame/maybe Nebraska Chapter, but they haven't put biographies/anything in on him....no photo either????  Probably for lifetime service.

 

NATIONAL WRESTLING HALL OF FAME

Visit 

Hall of FamersNewsEventsSupportShop

BACK

Harold Boker

 

All American Awards:

SEASON	SCHOOL	TOURNAMENT	WEIGHT	PLACE
1946	Nebraska	Division I	165	3

Edited April 5 by fadzaev2

[JasonBryant 2,123]

1 hour ago, GockeS said:

Im still wondering why it would have listed york as his hometown

It's a good question for sure, since the records I compiled using some old manuals found in the basement of the Dan Gable Museum also listed Boker as York, Nebraska. The manuals belonged to Illinois wrestling's great historian Ed Ewoldt. Maybe it's where he lived at the time? There are so many reasons as to why, but there's also very limited records. I suspect that even my database that has every All-American's hometown has a number of errors just based on how things can just be misread, copied wrong or spelled incorrectly. 

 

[iwrite 134]

In 1990, I wrote the "Encyclopedia of American Wrestling", published by Human Kinetics. I spent almost two years digging through old archives at various spots and talking to long time followers of the sport on all levels. The book is 530 pages and has a list of all NCAA tournament place winners since 1928,  all 3 divisions, as well as NAIA, junior college and the Midlands. up to that time. It also has a list of AAU and USA Wrestling  placers in both freestyle and G-R, and the Junior Nationals. Plus all U.S. Olympic teams, World teams, World Cup teams and Pan-Am teams, profiles of all the National Wrestling Hall of Fame inductees up to that point. And even a section on top amateurs who turned pro, going back to the early 1900s. It was a tremendous task and there are a few errors but still offers a pretty good overview of the amateur wrestling scene in America. Every now and then one pops up on eBay but they can be quite expensive. I think JB does the best job of keeping records now and I agree with him that errors are inevitable when dealing with information from so far back ..but still we try. -- Mike Chapman, author of 32 books (17 on wrestling).

 

[JasonBryant 2,123]

The book Mike wrote and noted above was the catalyst for me researching all the “Fargo” place winners going back to 1971. If not for that starting point, I’d likely still be searching.

[Fletcher 1,131]

I don't have any answers for you, but am glad to know I'm not the only one who feels compelled to research people who died decades ago to find out their whole life story.

[gimpeltf 2,089]

2 hours ago, JasonBryant said:

The book Mike wrote and noted above was the catalyst for me researching all the “Fargo” place winners going back to 1971. If not for that starting point, I’d likely still be searching.

Ahh, when Fargo was in Iowa!

[GockeS 549]

13 hours ago, iwrite said:

In 1990, I wrote the "Encyclopedia of American Wrestling", published by Human Kinetics. I spent almost two years digging through old archives at various spots and talking to long time followers of the sport on all levels. The book is 530 pages and has a list of all NCAA tournament place winners since 1928,  all 3 divisions, as well as NAIA, junior college and the Midlands. up to that time. It also has a list of AAU and USA Wrestling  placers in both freestyle and G-R, and the Junior Nationals. Plus all U.S. Olympic teams, World teams, World Cup teams and Pan-Am teams, profiles of all the National Wrestling Hall of Fame inductees up to that point. And even a section on top amateurs who turned pro, going back to the early 1900s. It was a tremendous task and there are a few errors but still offers a pretty good overview of the amateur wrestling scene in America. Every now and then one pops up on eBay but they can be quite expensive. I think JB does the best job of keeping records now and I agree with him that errors are inevitable when dealing with information from so far back ..but still we try. -- Mike Chapman, author of 32 books (17 on wrestling).

 

thanks!!

this has been kind of a fun exercise for me... 

I have spoken to you at a few ncaa's and have a few of your books. 

always appreciate your insights and your columns in WIN.

[GockeS 549]

Boker is the prominent picture. it is from the 1946 UNL yearbook. Newt Copple is the second then mickey kelley.

 

[GockeS 549]

15 hours ago, fadzaev2 said:

http://www.wrestlingstats.com/ncaa/pdf/brackets/NCAA 1946.pdf

He was 3rd that year.

 

Looks like he's in the National Wrestlilng Hall of Fame/maybe Nebraska Chapter, but they haven't put biographies/anything in on him....no photo either????  Probably for lifetime service.

 

NATIONAL WRESTLING HALL OF FAME

Visit 

Hall of FamersNewsEventsSupportShop

BACK

Harold Boker

 

All American Awards:

SEASON	SCHOOL	TOURNAMENT	WEIGHT	PLACE
1946	Nebraska	Division I	165	3

he is in the hall of fame nebraska chapter?

NU doesn't even list him as an All American... 

 

[gimpeltf 2,089]

24 minutes ago, GockeS said:

he is in the hall of fame nebraska chapter?

NU doesn't even list him as an All American... 

Schools don't have NWHOF chapters, states do.

[GockeS 549]

17 minutes ago, gimpeltf said:

Schools don't have NWHOF chapters, states do.

yes

who makes the state chapter, guys from nebraska? or just people at the NWHOF

i would think someone would realize that nebraska doesn't list him, if they were from nebraska

im not trying to shoot the messenger.. just gathering info 

[iwrite 134]

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Posted 9 hours ago

I don't have any answers for you, but am glad to know I'm not the only one who feels compelled to research people who died decades ago to find out their whole life story.

 

Fletcher -- you are not the only one who feels compelled to research people who died decades ago.  I have spent many years researching people like Frank Gotch, Earl Caddock, three-time AAU national champion who became world professional champion in 1917 and fought in WWI, and Nat Pendleton, 1920 Olympic silver medalist from Columbia University who became a star in Hollywood. And heroes from the far distant past -- like Gilgamesh of ancient Sumer and Achilles, the greatest warrior of antiquity.  My book on Achilles came out at the same time as the movie "Troy" with Brad Pitt as Achilles. Though the movie departs quite a bit from Homer's version (and mine), Pitt does a good job of portraying  the inner warrior and the turmoil raging within him. If you go to my web site, you will see a photo of me standing on the tomb of Achilles near the ruins of ancient Troy. My son and I went there in 2006 and one night I even took my sleeping bag and laid on the Plain of Troy, near the very spot where Achilles and Hector fought to the death 3,000 years ago!

Oh, by the way -- according to legend, both Gilgamesh and Achilles were accomplished wrestlers!