"It Made Me": John Smith Reflects on Nearly 50 Years At Oklahoma State

STILLWATER – Monday was an emotional day for many in attendance of John Smith’s retirement press conference. Heck, it was emotional for many people who weren’t in the theater room in the West End Zone of Boone Pickens Stadium.

33 years John Smith spent as the head coach of Oklahoma State wrestling, two names synonymous with the sport of wrestling. But if you add up all the time Smith spent in and around the program and Gallagher Hall, later Gallagher-Iba Arena, then it spans nearly 50 years as he told a story about how he first fell in love with Oklahoma State and the building at the age of 10 while on a recruiting visit for his brother Lee Roy, who became a national champion and multi-time All-American for the Pokes.

That initial visit to Gallagher Hall turned into summer road trips in vans across the country to countless wrestling camps, which turned into nearly 50 years in Gallagher.

There’s something incredible when thinking about Smith’s time at Oklahoma State. There are all the wins as a head coach, 490. There are the five NCAA team tiles, the 21 Big 12 team titles, 132 individual conference titles. Then there’s   153 All-Americans and 33 individual national champions and two Olympic medalists during his time as head coach.

Then you take a look at the time as a wrestler, which will most likely never be topped. He was a six-time world champion, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, a two-time Pan American Games gold medalist, a two-time Goodwill Games gold medalist, a two-time NCAA champion, a three-time Big Eight champion and three-time NCAA All-American. John Smith is forever the greatest wrestler of all-time.

But to hear him talk about what helped make him into that machine, his older brother Lee Roy and former coach Tommy Chesbro. The drive to be up working out at the same time his Russian opponents were. All the countless hours running the stairs on the east side of then Gallagher Hall. 

The way he spoke about all that made him what he is today should forever leave a lasting impact on OSU fans.

“My journey started at about 10 years old here. I’ll never forget my first trip into Gallagher Hall; they had these pictures up all the way around Gallagher Hall and all these pictures were in like 30 cent frames, but it was the most beautiful thing I ever saw. Going down the hallway and seeing guys from the early 20s, guys that I got to meet and got to connect with, a lot of the wrestlers from the late 20s and early 30s, when I was 10 years old, 12 years old, 14 while Lee Roy was wrestling here.

“I can tell you this, there was just a level of motivation of saying ‘I can do this.’ You’re walking and looking at Frank Lewis, 1936 Olympic gold medalist, it just made me believe that this is where I belonged and this is a chance, an opportunity for me to capitalize on everything I ever wanted in wrestling. I was a highly motivated wrestling as a young guy with my brother growing up in Oklahoma. One of the best ever to come through the state and coming to Oklahoma State and for me spending time in Gallagher Hall was just one incredible moment for a young kid. And still today, Gallagher-Iba Arena. I can’t tell you how much time I’ve spent in the facility from the time I was 10. I lived in this facility. I literally lived in in when I was 11, in the wrestling room during camps and the summers and training and just an unbelieved experience. It just led me to do some things that were incredible. I didn’t make it, it made me. That’s how I want people to know me and how I want to go out is just I got to be a part of something that was incredible. I got to be a part of a legacy.”