Lee Roy Smith

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Lee Roy Smith (born July 30, 1958 ) is a retired American wrestler . He was runner- up in free style featherweight in 1983.

Career

Lee Roy Smith comes from a wrestling family from Del City, a suburb of Oklahoma City . He was the eldest of four brothers who all wrestled . The best known and by far the most successful of these four brothers was John Smith , who became Olympic champion in 1988 and 1992 and was also multiple world champion . The other two brothers were Pat Smith , a four-time American NCAA champion (American student champion), and Mark Smith.

Lee Roy Smith began wrestling in Del City High School in 1969 . He then moved to Oklahoma State University to coach Tommy Chesbrow. From 1977 to 1980 he was very successful in the university wrestling competition and won 112 out of 124 fights. In 1980, he won the free style featherweight title at the NCAA Division I Collegiate Championships.

From 1981 to 1983 he also won the USA featherweight championship three times in a row, starting for the Cowboy Wrestling Club Oklahoma City. His first and only appearance at an international championship had Lee Roy Smith at the 1983 World Cup in Kiev . Although he had no international experience, he won the silver medal there . He only had to admit defeat on points in the final battle by Viktor Petrovich Alexejew from the USSR.

In 1984 his big goal was to take part in the Olympic Games in Los Angeles . In the eliminations carried out to determine the US starter, he narrowly prevailed against Randy Lewis in a bitter duel . However, due to a protest by Randy Lewis, this result was changed and the US Wrestling Association declared it to be the US starter at the Games. Bitter for Lee Roy Smith, who accepted this decision in a sporty way. Randy Lewis then also became Olympic champion .

After 1984 Lee Roy Smith no longer appeared at international championships. He recognized the enormous wrestling potential of his younger brother John and promoted this accordingly. In 1987, John became world champion in free style in featherweight for the first time , in the same weight class in which Lee Roy also wrestled.

Lee Roy Smith, who graduated from sports studies, started his coaching career in 1982. From 1982 to 1987 he was assistant coach at Oklahoma State University , from 1987 to 1989 coach of the Swiss national team of freestyle wrestlers, from 1989 to 1992 coach of the US national team of freestyle wrestlers and finally from 1992 to 2001 head coach at Arizona State University . From 2001 to 2004 he worked as a financial advisor and since the summer of 2004 he has been the director of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

successes

international

national

  • 1979, 4th place, NCAA Champ., F, Le, behind Dan Hicks , Scott Trizzino and Mike Mathis and in front of Andre Metzger and Andrew Rein ,
  • 1980, 1st place, NCAA Champ., F, Fe,
  • 1981, 1st place, AAU-Champ., F, Fe, ahead of Mike Land and Mike McArthur,
  • 1982, 1st place, AAU-Champ., F, Fe, in front of Randy Lewis and Ricki Dellagatta,
  • 1983, 1st place, AAU-Champ., F, Fe,
  • 1984, 2nd place, AAU Olympic elimination, F, Fe, behind Randy Lewis

(Erl .: WM = world championship, F = free style, Fe = featherweight, Le = lightweight, back then up to 62 kg or 68 kg body weight)

swell

  • Trade journal Der Ringer , number: 10/1983, page 6
  • Database of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences at the University of Leipzig
  • Website of National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
  • Oklahoma State University website
  • NCAA website - statistics section
  • AAU website - statistics section

Web links

Profile of Lee Roy Smith at the Institute for Applied Exercise Science

personal data
SURNAME Smith, Lee Roy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American wrestler
DATE OF BIRTH July 30, 1958