07/17/2025
How Shawnee Helped to Create the State Duals
Written by Hall of Fame Coach Mike Henry
Some of Shawnee's most exciting moments in its wrestling history have come in dual meets. Its head-to-head matchups against Midwest City, Del City, Edmond, Perry, Tulsa Union and other top competitors have provided fans and followers with an assortment of highlights over the years.
In the '80s, many of Oklahoma's prep coaches lobbied to have a dual state tournament like a number of other states had already done. St. Edward's Prep of Ohio, the national powerhouse of the era, had been hosting their annual "Quad of Champions" featuring themselves and champions from three other states for several years.
The Peninsula Wrestling Association (P.W.A.) started the team advancement concept in Hampton, Virginia with its 'Virginia Duals' in 1981 which is now used by many regions to determine the best High School Dual Team in a state. The P.W.A. hosted the 44th edition of the annual event the Hampton Coliseum last January.
Jenks attempted to put together a major dual event in the early 1980s with its Tournament of Champions. It consisted of Oklahoma's four defending state championship teams, the host school and three other highly rated squads. But after a few years, the concept faded away.
That's when Shawnee stepped to the forefront. In 1984, Junior High coach Mike Henry put together "Super Fest", an eight team dual event featuring some of the best pre-high school teams in the state including the hometown Cubs. This was nothing new for Henry who had wrestled in dual tournaments as a California high schooler and had hosted a major dual team event while coaching at Los Alamitos (CA) High in 1977.
He approached Mark Leen at the conclusion of the 1987 season as the then-head coach was setting up the schedule for the next year and proposed hosting an unofficial dual state tournament. Like many requests, efforts by the state's coaches to gain the approval for a state dual tournament from the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Association (OSSAA) had failed so the Shawnee Takedown Club decided to construct the quasi event.
Leen, who always enjoyed going up against the toughest competition that he could find, put together a stellar field of competitors that included Midwest City (Rated #1 in Class 5A), Del City ( #4 in 5A), Sand Springs ( #6 in 5A), Carl Albert ( #9 in 4A), Tuttle ( #5 in 3A), Harrah ( #7 in 3A), and Anadarko ( #10 in 3A). These were the ratings of each school in the field as the tournament got underway on Friday January 29, 1988 which included the Wolves who were the top rated team in Class 4A.
" There's no doubt that this is the best field ever assembled for a dual tournament in Oklahoma, " stated Henry who doubled as the event's director.
There were a number of other top teams who were intrigued with the possibility of being a part of such a competition but the field was limited to just eight schools.
When it was completed, the 1987-88 schedule was an assemblage of challenges that featured the much anticipated trip to California for the heralded Five Counties Tournament; regular season duals with 5A powers Edmond, Del City and Midwest City; and now, Shawnee's Dual Meet Tournament of Champions.
But in July 1987, Leen departed Shawnee to become the new head coach at Garden City Community College. He left behind a talented team with a rugged schedule. As the recipient of this challenging going-away gift, Henry inherited both.
Like most things that were new, it was hard to keep Shawnee's dual tournament with its stellar field a secret. Opposing coaches were intrigued and word had already leaked out that Henry was considering doubling Shawnee's Dual Tournament of Champions to sixteen of the state's top teams for 1989 !
Items usually don't move very quickly through the meeting rooms at the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Athletic Association (OSSAA) but that winter was an exception.
Once again, at the center of the frey was the OSSAA's Ivan Evans. It was the same Ivan Evans who Leen had mocked at the conclusion of the '86 state meet with the infamous headband protest. He was no friend of Shawnee but he was to those in the Mid-Del School System.
The fact that all three of the district's high schools had committed to be a part of the biggest dual event in state history was a selling point for Evans. It was usually a case where if the Mid-Del schools wanted something, it got done and in short order. It also didn't hurt that Olympic Champion John Smith's father, LeRoy Smith, Sr., was the president of the district's school board. And so, on January 7, 1988, three weeks before Shawnee's Tournament of Champions, it was announced that the new OSSAA State Dual Meet Championships would begin in 1989.
Shawnee's tournament was still less than a month away but it had already served its purpose as it paved the way for wrestlers in each class to compete for top honors in a dual match format.
The Shawnee Dual Tournament of Champions was held on January 29 & 30, 1988 at the Stucker Wrestling Complex before a large crowd of curious fans, many of whom had never seen a high school dual meet invitational. It was like going to a basketball tournament except this event used mats as the balls were stored away in a closet.
The quarterfinals took place inside The Stucker (at that time known as the Physical Education Facility) on Friday afternoon, with namesakes Ray and Mary Jo looking on, as the Wolves throttled Anadarko 57-7 while Del City drew a bye in the upper half of the bracket. On the opposite side, Midwest City bounced Harrah, 42-19 as Sand Springs upended Tuttle, 41-15. Carl Albert had originally planned to take part but was unable to attend.
The home team was paced by first period falls from Darrien Gordon (168) and heavyweight Jason Palmer.
In the evening's semi-finals, the Wolves continued their roll over 5A schools, topping Del City 32-22. At 157, Shawnee junior Charles Campbell became the latest victim of future 4-time NCAA Champion Pat Smith. He was the younger brother of John Smith.
James Sheldon (178) picked up a fall with a 1/2 second remaining in the second period to push his team ahead, 27-16. At the time, the pesky Eagles had never defeated Shawnee in a dual meet.
In the other semi, Midwest City got past Sand Springs, ranked sixth in 5A, 36-20 to set up the finals dual against the Wolves. The unfriendly rivals had last met a week earlier in the Bombers' gym where SHS came away with a 24-23 win.
The rematch between the number one ranked squads picked up where their previous encounter had left off as the crowd inside The Stucker was at full volume. Shawnee won the first six matches and jumped to a 20-0 lead but were unable to pick up any falls. The critical pairing came at 157 where Gordon faced off once again against Jeremy Manney. They had tied 7-7 in the earlier dual.
The contest was close and with just seconds remaining the Shawnee junior, trailing by a point (4-3), hit a picture perfect double leg that appeared would become the winning takedown. But as Gordon was in the midst of finishing his move, he was tackled by a spectator who had run onto the mat. The individual had been sitting among a cluster of Midwest City fans in the south bleachers.
Two officials were calling the match and, by the rules, their only alternative was to have the fan escorted out of the building and return the wrestlers to the neutral position where they had started the sequence. Manney stalled out the final seconds giving Midwest City just enough points to end up with a 25-20 win. After the match, it was learned that the over zealous spectator was Manney's father.
The Bombers never liked getting pushed around by any opponent, especially one from a lower classification. Sportsmanship was not part of the makeup in their DNA.
Unfortunately, the episode was just the latest among several that had taken place over the years. The Gordon-Manney debacle now led to increasing tension between wrestlers, coaches, and fans. At one point, the loyalists of each school who had been watching from the bleachers began shouting at each other and appeared to be moving the incident into the danger zone which became the last straw.
On Monday morning, with everyone back in their respective roles in their hometowns, Henry met with athletic director Mike Sperry and it was mutually agreed that Midwest City would be dropped from SHS's future schedules.
" It's too bad that it all happened the way that it did but I was in complete agreement with Mike (Sperry)," Henry recalled. " It was evident that if the series were to continue, there was a good chance that someone was going to get seriously hurt."
Since then, the two teams never met in dual match competition until this past January when Shawnee hosted the Bombers who were defeated by the McCune brigade, 46-26.
However, the 1988 event had served its purpose in gaining approval for the creation of the State Duals by the OSSAA. Most felt that its success was a forerunner for similar competitions for years to come. The format for Oklahoma's Dual State Tournament would have an effect on how all teams would schedule in the future. At that time, schools were limited to 14 duals, 3 tournaments, and one festival (quad).
Beginning with the 1988-89 season, each team would be assigned to a four team district with the eight champions of each class advancing to Dual State. Those additions marked the end of the Shawnee Dual Tournament of Champions after just one season. Due to other scheduling commitments and having to incorporate three new teams for the new district assignment, there wasn't enough room to continue the landmark event.
A few months later, based on the success of their own tournament, Shawnee was selected to host the first Class 4A State Dual Championships in 1989.
In 2001, Coach Larry James started "The Shawnee Duals" which has grown into the largest and most anticipated junior high dual tournament in the state with 47 teams (32 boys and 15 girls). From 2015-2019, Firelake Arena hosted the State Duals for all classes before the tournament moved to Enid.
And just to show that it really is a small world, in 1991, Jeremy Manney, whose dad was at the center of the controversy three years prior, was an All-American for Garden City Community College where his coach was....Mark Leen.
Darrien Gordon went on to evade tacklers playing 10 years in the National Football League where he was one of the game's top punt returners.
(Below) Before it was the Stucker Wrestling Complex, it was the Shawnee High School Physical Education Facility. It was the site for the 1988 Shawnee Dual Tournament of Champions and one year later, it served as the host location for the first ever Oklahoma High School State Dual Meet Championships.
