CMU Wrestling Honors History on Sunday
12/5/2015 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – The Central Michigan wrestling program will celebrate and honor part of its rich history Sunday when the Chippewas host Michigan State (2 p.m.) in a non-league dual at McGuirk Arena.
Members of the 1985-86 team will be introduced before the meet, marking the 30th anniversary of a squad that brought home Central Michigan’s first Mid-American Conference wrestling championship.
That team was coached by the legendary Charles “Chick” Sherwood, who was assisted by current Michigan State coach Tom Minkel. Both are members of the Central Michigan University Marcy Weston Athletics Hall of Fame, and both are expected to be on hand along with about a dozen members of the team.
“Being the first MAC champions was really special,” said Sherwood, who was named the MAC Coach of the Year in ‘86. “They were a bunch that came in and really worked well together and just improved tremendously the whole time. Some of them I have not seen in quite awhile. It’ll be fun to get back together again.
“Tom Minkel was an assistant coach and he was a big part of it all.”
The ’85-86 Chippewas finished 12-1 in duals including a 7-0 slate against MAC opponents. CMU won the MAC Championships by a mere one-quarter of a point, edging runner-up Ohio, 66.75-66.5.
The Chippewas won three other tournaments, the Michigan State Invitational, the Michigan Open, and the Muskegon Open.
CMU’s Harry Richards (126 pounds) and Jeff Mills (150) were MAC champions that year, and Richards was named the Outstanding Wrestler at the MAC Championships and earned the MAC Wrestler of the Year Award.
The Chippewa program now has a team award named in his honor. The recipient is a student-athlete who overcomes adversity and has a positive impact on both team and individual accomplishments.
Richards, along with Mills and Carleton Kinkade (177), qualified for the NCAA Championships in 1986.
Mills finished eighth at the NCAA Championships, earning All-America honors. He was named the Chippewas’ Most Valuable Wrestler after posting a CMU-record 45 victories on the season.
His record still stands, and his 132 career victories are second in program history to the 134 posted by Casey Cunningham, who in 1999 became the first Chippewa to win an NCAA title.
Mills, Richards and Kinkade are today also members in the CMU Athletics Hall of Fame.
Four of the 18 CMU wrestlers who have recorded 100 or more career victories were a part of that ’85-86 squad. They are Steve Adams, Andy Brydon, Mills and Rich Moeggenberg.
After the Chippewas won the MAC title, they went on to the NCAA Championships and scored 10 ½ points, the second-highest total for a CMU team in the NCAA Championships to that point. They finished 30th.
The Chippewas repeated as MAC champions in 1986-87, and Sherwood won his second consecutive conference coach of the year award. Minkel succeeded Sherwood as CMU’s head coach after the 1988-89 season. Sherwood posted a career dual meet record of 196-125-6 in his 25 years at CMU.
The Chippewas, who are ranked 21st in the National Wrestling Coaches Association poll, are 3-0 overall and rolled past Northern Illinois, 39-3, in their MAC-opening dual in DeKalb, Ill., on Thursday.
The Spartans are 0-4, having lost to Utah Valley, Ohio and Clarion in the season-opening Eastern Michigan Duals. The Spartans lost to Eastern Michigan, 34-0, on Wednesday.