WRESTLING PRESIDENTS

George Washington

1st President

Washington was first a champion wrestler. At 18, the big, shy Washington apparently held a ''collar and elbow'' wrestling championship that was at least county-wide and possibly colony-wide.

Andrew Jackson

7th President

Very tall and thin, he was often made fun of. He took up wrestling to stand up to bullies. He was known for never backing down to anyone. His style was similar to Washington's.

Zachary Taylor

12th President

Learned to wrestle as a boy. Believe it was a great leadership. As a General in the Black Hawk War, he had all his men participate in wrestling drills. He always favored wrestling as an army sport.

Franklin Pearce

14th President

Wrestled in the New Hampshire House of Representatives building while he was house speaker.

Abraham Lincoln

16th President

Lincoln was an impressive physical specimen, thin but wiry and muscular, strengthened by hard work in the fields and towering to a mighty 6 feet, 4 inches in height. Considered the greatest president of all-time. He was a 2 X County Champion. First in Kentucky and then in Illinois. Lincoln undoubtedly was the roughest and toughest of the wrestling Presidents.

Ulysse S. Grant

18th President

Like Andrew Jackson, learned to wrestle so he could stand up to bullies.

James Garfield

20th President

Became known as the "King of the Mountain" wrestler of all boys at college in Hiram, Ohio.

Chester Arthur

21st President

Baptist "preacher's kid." He learned early that he had to fend for himself. He was quite successful.

Teddy Roosevelt

26th President

Continued regular wrestling workouts throughout his term as Governor of New York. Roosevelt, of course, had an affinity for most kinds of strong physical exertion. Only president to wrestling in the White House.

Howard W. Taft

27th President

Heaviest wrestling President at his ''best weight'' of 225, was a lifelong follower of collar and elbow. Big Bill was intramural heavyweight champion at Yale, and was a fourth generation wrestler in the Taft family.

Calvin Coolidge

30th President

One of the smallest presidents and was rated as "tolerable good." He learned to scrap in Vermont which was the mecca of early day wrestling.

Dwight Eisenhower

34th President

After a football injury, turned to intramural wrestling at West Point.

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