Jack van Bebber

American wrestler

Jack VanBebber

Personal information

Full name| Jack Francis VanBebber
Nationality| American
Born| (1907-07-27)July 27, 1907
Perry, Oklahoma, U.S.
Died| April 13, 1986(1986-04-13) (aged 78)
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S.
Sport
Country| United States
Sport| Wrestling
Event(s)| Freestyle and Folkstyle
College team| Oklahoma A&M
Team| USA

Medal record

Men's freestyle wrestling
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
|  1932 Los Angeles | 72 kg
Collegiate Wrestling
Representing Oklahoma A&M
NCAA Wrestling Championships
| 1929 Columbus | 155 lb
| 1930 State College | 165 lb
| 1931 Providence | 165 lb

Jack Francis "Blackjack" VanBebber (July 27, 1907 - April 13, 1986) was an American wrestler and Olympic gold medalist at the 1932 Olympic Games in freestyle wrestling.

VanBebber was born and raised in Perry, Oklahoma. He attended and wrestled at Oklahoma A&M University and was a three-time undefeated NCAA national champion. He was coached by Edward C. Gallagher. VanBebber competed at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, where he won the gold medal in the freestyle welterweight (72 kg) division.[1]

In 1950, he was named one of the ten greatest amateur athletes in the western hemisphere for the first half of the 20th century. VanBebber served four years in the infantry during World War II, three of them in the Pacific theater. He then joined the Phillips Petroleum Company for 39 years until his retirement, and taught wrestling to sons of company employees and to Boy Scouts. He once wrestled Frank Phillips (founder of Phillips 66) at his home in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

For more than 50 years he was the only American-born wrestler to win three NCAA titles and an Olympic gold medal. In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member.[2]

## Further reading[edit]

* A Distant Flame: The Inspiring Story of Jack VanBebber's Quest for a World Olympic Title, tells more about his life.

## References[edit]

1. ^ "1932 Summer Olympics - Los Angeles, United States - Wrestling" Archived 2008-06-12 at the Wayback Machine - databaseOlympics.com (Retrieved on April 28, 2008)
2. ^ Jack VanBebber. National Wrestling Hall of Fame. Retrieved September 17, 2022.

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Olympic Champions in freestyle welterweight

* 1904 Charles Ericksen (NOR)
* 1924 Hermann Gehri (SUI)
* 1928 Arvo Haavisto (FIN)
* 1932 Jack van Bebber (USA)
* 1936 Frank Lewis (USA)
* 1948 Yaşar Doğu (TUR)
* 1952 William Smith (USA)
* 1956 Mitsuo Ikeda (JPN)
* 1960 Douglas Blubaugh (USA)
* 1964 İsmail Ogan (TUR)
* 1968 Mahmut Atalay (TUR)
* 1972 Wayne Wells (USA)
* 1976 Jiichiro Date (JPN)
* 1980 Valentin Raychev (BUL)
* 1984 David Schultz (USA)
* 1988 Kenny Monday (USA)
* 1992 Park Jang-soon (KOR)
* 1996 Buvaisar Saitiev (RUS)
* 2000 Brandon Slay (USA)
* 2004 Buvaisar Saitiev (RUS)
* 2008 Buvaisar Saitiev (RUS)
* 2012 Jordan Burroughs (USA)
* 2016 Hassan Yazdani (IRI)
* 2020 Zaurbek Sidakov (ROC)

* 1904: 71.67 kg
* 1924–1936: 72 kg
* 1948–1960: 73 kg
* 1964–1968: 78 kg
* 1972–1996: 74 kg
* 2000: 76 kg
* 2004–present: 74 kg

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