Jim Nance. The name sort of rings a bell...
http://wrestlingreport.com/current_news/viewtopic.php?=14&t=27801
Nance was the first African-American to win an NCAA heavyweight title and also the first to win two NCAA crowns. He accomplished this despite the demands of being the star of a big-time football program. Dick Slutzky, NCAA runner-up, teammate and life-long friend of Nance, recalled that “Ben Schwartzwalder (Syracuse head football coach) liked wrestling and let his football players participate. Also, Jim really enjoyed wrestling.”
Slutzky added that “Jim did not have many workout partners at Syracuse and would often lift weights as part of his training. Despite that he had a great engine and did not get tired. He had unique combination of speed, balance and strength.”
Nance was a very intimidating looking individual, but in reality he was a “gentle giant”. However, he was a handy guy to have around if there was trouble. While wrestling in a dual meet at Lehigh’s Grace Hall (aka “The Snake Pit”), Slutzky got into a spirited argument with several boisterous Lehigh fans. “Suddenly,” noted Slutzky, who had ventured into the stands to continue the debate, “all the Lehigh fans shut up and sat down. I was feeling pretty tough until I turned around and saw Jim standing behind me.”
Wayne Hicks, a 1965 NCAA runner-up for the Naval Academy, saw Nance in action on a number of occasions. “Bo Nance was awesome. I'll never forget when John Nichols, our heavyweight in 1965, took Nance down early in the 1st period in a dual meet at Syracuse attended by several of Nance's football buddies. They went out-of-bounds and Nance got up looking like an enraged bull — it was amazing as his nostrils flared and his whole very muscular body flexed in anger. I have never seen a big man move so fast and display so much power as he did coming out from the bottom, turning and whipping Nichols to his back and pinning him all in one continuous blur.”
Gerry Leeman, who faced Nance a number of times while coaching at Lehigh, said of him, “Jim Nance was the best wrestler I ever saw at heavyweight. He wrestled at a lower weight in high school and thus used very conventional wrestling technique. The Minnesota heavy (Kole Conrad) was outstanding, as was the Iowa State behemoth (Chris Taylor), but I’d take Nance for my outstanding wrestler.”
Ed Carlin, Nance’s coach at Syracuse, noted that he remained active in wrestling after graduating. “Jim did a lot for wrestling after his career ended. He came back to Syracuse at his expense to hand out awards at the New York state high school wrestling championships. He also spoke several times at our wrestling banquet.”
After Nance retired from football, he became involved in wrestling clinics with Slutzky. Unfortunately, Nance would suffer a series of debilitating strokes that severely curtailed his mobility and would ultimately cut short his life at the age of 49 in 1992. Of his passing, Slutzky observed that “Jim was a genuinely nice guy and a good man.” Carlin added that “it was a sad day for me personally and for all of the Syracuse community when he died at such a young age.”