By Kyle Klingman, W.I.N. Columnist

Finally, after years away from home, the 1950 NCAA championship wrestling trophy is back at Northern Iowa.

But getting it there wasn’t easy. Phone calls had to be made. People had to be questioned. Pictures had to be examined to make sure it was the right trophy. Nobody knew where Northern Iowa’s only NCAA Division I team title trophy was.

            Chuck Patten — Northern Iowa’s head wrestling coach from 1965 to 1982 — suggested checking with the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Okla. Sure enough, they had the trophy and sent in back.

            The next step is finding the 1975 and 1978 NCAA Div. II championship trophies. Nobody knows where those are located either. Perhaps they’ll show up in a storage room or at a rummage sale or at an antique mall.

            Okay, enough sarcasm. Let’s give Northern Iowa some credit here. Some good things have happened since I wrote a column criticizing Northern Iowa for disrespecting wrestling.

            Northern Iowa’s McLeod Center — the new facility where basketball, volleyball and wrestling hold its competitions — has tributes to all sports. In the southeast corner of the facility, there is a large display listing the wrestling program’s top 15 finishes at the NCAA tournament.

            In the hallway connecting the UNI Dome to the McLeod Center, there are display cases recognizing Northern Iowa’s greatest athletic accomplishments. Wrestling has three display areas with the 1949 NCAA runner-up trophy and the 1950 NCAA championship trophy displayed with pictures of each team.

            A listing of every wrestling Olympian, every NCAA champion (Div. I and II), and every West Regional team title is documented as well. There are some great pictures of past wrestlers and past teams, including a display case with a photograph of Bill Smith holding his 1952 Olympic gold medal as the backdrop.

            All-Americans for every sport are listed in a specially designated area in the hallway. Men’s and women’s track along with baseball and softball share a space (with lots of room left over). Wrestling has its own listing and it’s nearly full.

            And thanks to the efforts of the UNI Wrestling Booster Club and the Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute and Museum, all NCAA champions from Northern Iowa were recently recognized. Sixteen of the 22 living NCAA champions were on hand and they all received a standing ovation at halftime of the Iowa State vs. UNI dual meet on Dec. 16.

            However, there is still work to be done at the University of Northern Iowa, which will serve as host for the NWCA Cliff Keen National Duals, Jan. 12-13, in the UNI Dome.

            Two of the wrestlers honored at the Dec. 16 Iowa State-UNI meet in Cedar Falls were wrestling legends Bill Nelson and Bill Smith. Both wrestled during Northern Iowa’s glory years (1946-1953) and both have been vocal in stating their dissatisfaction with the way UNI has treated its wrestling program.

            Nelson, a three-time NCAA champion and 1948 Olympian, and Smith, a two-time NCAA champion and 1952 Olympic champion, pointed to the lack of crowd involvement as their biggest disappointment while attending the Iowa State-UNI dual meet.

            They remember an era when wrestling was a big deal at this school, once known as Iowa State Teachers College. They remember a time when there were pep bands, cheerleaders, and crowds packed in so tight they would have to sit around the edge of the mat.

            But that all took place in the West Gym, a facility that holds 2,000 people. It’s the same facility that UNI won its only NCAA championship in 1950 and the same facility that UNI used for dual meets until the 2006-07 season began.

            Come to think of it, the West Gym is still where Northern Iowa has its wrestling room and where all of the wrestling offices are. It’s also the same place where zero banners hang for any of the wrestling team’s NCAA titles but a banner gloriously recognizes a preseason NIT berth for the women’s basketball team. (I guess I wasn’t quite finished with the sarcasm).

            And it’s the same place that Sandy Stevens — a UNI graduate and wrestling’s most prolific public address announcer — wants to see wrestling history come alive. Last season, Stevens started the “Pledges for Pins” project where people could pledge any amount of money from a dollar on up per pin that the team scored.

            “I was concerned because one could walk into the West Gym and not know of the storied wrestling history of UNI,” said Stevens. “You’d walk in there and not know that we had national champions or Olympians. I was very frustrated by that and I felt that something needed to be done on the grassroots level.”

            Her pledges program has already raised $25,000, which is amazing for a first year.                                          The money is going to completely revamp the north hallway where the wrestling room is. It will be full of pictures of every NCAA champion, every All-American will be listed and all former Olympians will be pictured.

            The West Gym is where wrestling recognition — and in my opinion dual meets — belongs because that’s where the wrestling team spends most of its time.

            But don’t think for a minute that Sandy Stevens’s pledges program is over. She drove five hours from Illinois to be part of the NCAA champions’ reunion that took place on Dec. 16 to garner new support for the program and to let past champions know what the money is being used for.

            Yet Stevens isn’t asking for recognition. She contributes because UNI wrestling continues to contribute in her life and it all started when her late husband, Bear, began wrestling as a freshman under the legendary Bill Koll.

            “Bill Koll and the wrestling experience in particular, but UNI in general, really shaped so much of who Bear was and what he wanted to do for others as a teacher, a coach and an administrator,” said Stevens. “Bill Koll was a father figure to Bear.”

            It’s true: One person can, and always does, make a difference.

            (Kyle Klingman is the associate director of the Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute and Museum, located in Waterloo, Iowa. He can be reached via e-mail, kyle.klingman@yahoo.com.) n