Killer Cradles By Wade Schalles

My knowledge on Catch Wrestling is in the range of limited to non-existent, but I always thought it was a submission form of wrestling. Schalles doesn't really show submissions, he shows pins and set ups to pins, I imagine you could modify his techniques to submit someone, but to be honest with you if you are a BJJ guy who is trying to cross over with submissions from Catch Wrestling I don't think his DVDs would be for them. However, if you are a wrestler from Grade School up to Old Man Veterans, you can learn a tremendous amount from him.
Check this out

https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2014/4/...ach-scientific-catch-wrestling-billy-robinson

Apparently Schalles is/was very much involved in submission wrestling. He is another USA wrestling great from that era that also competed in judo and sambo. He must be a monster grappler.

 
Wade Schalles must be pretty good at submissions, he was a sambo national champ and to win his title he submitted Hayward Nishioka, who is a legend in judo and no easy opponent. Never seen any of his sambo matches, which I guess isn't unusual with AAU sambo from that period.
 
@dsdoubled and @Kforcer

You guys Piqued my interest in Schalles, I found these great videos on YouTube

I did not know he was a two time World Silver Medalist in Sambo after only training one year in the discipline, nor did I know that he made the Olympic team twice, but had to back out of the 76 Olympics due to a broken neck, and was on the 1980 Olympic team that missed the Olympic games because of Carter boycotting the Olympics. It is quite possible that if he was given the opportunity to compete and win those two Olympics that he may have actually been a top 5 USA wrestler.



Stan Dziedzic must have been the guy who Schalles beat in the Olympic trials, and was the alternate who took his place in the 1976 Montreal Olympics when Schalles broke his neck. Dziedzic then won a world championship in 1977.

I also found this video of Schalles beating Lee Kemp in the 1976 Olympic trials, Kemp was a 3 time world champion.



Thanks guys I would never found this out, if it had not been for this thread!
 
Last edited:
@dsdoubled and @Kforcer

You guys Piqued my interest in Schalles, I found these great videos on YouTube

I did not know he was a two time World Silver Medalist in Sambo after only training one year in the discipline, nor did I know that he made the Olympic team twice, but had to back out of the 76 Olympics due to a broken neck, and was on the 1980 Olympic team that missed the Olympic games because of Carter boycotting the Olympics. It is quite possible that if he was given the opportunity to compete and win those two Olympics that he may have actually been a top 5 USA wrestler.



Stan Dziedzic must have been the guy who Schalles beat in the Olympic trials, and was the alternate who took his place in the 1976 Montreal Olympics when Schalles broke his neck. Dziedzic then won a world championship in 1977.

I also found this video of Schalles beating Lee Kemp in the 1976 Olympic trials, Kemp was a 3 time world champion.



Thanks guys I would never found this out, if it had not been for this thread!

Something else you may find interesting. The same type of asterisk you mentioned about his freestyle career could also be applied to college. So get this. In 1972, as a sophomore, Schalles won the NCAA D II wrestling championships. He was named outstanding wrestler of the tournament. Back in those days D II champs were allowed to compete in the D I tournament. So Schalles shows up a week later and wins the D I tourney as well, while also being named outstanding wrestler again. A year later Schalles again wins D I and D II titles (though he wasn't named OW). Heres the kicker, back in those days freshman were not allowed to compete in the NCAA tourney. And for Schalles, a technical/administrative oversight cost him the chance to compete in the NCAA tourney as a senior as well. So realistically Schalles could have been a 3x NCAA D I champ and a 3x NCCA D II champ!!!
 
J
Talking about wrestlers from Michigan who went into MMA, I knew James Lee who used to wrestle at Eastern Michigan, he got into MMA and was fairly successful. I always wondered, is James Lee related to UFC's Kevin Lee? Booth went to, and wrestled at Southfield High School.
James Lee? I remember him. He was either a HW or LHW who fought in both PRIDE and the UFC around 2007-2008 right?
 
Something else you may find interesting. The same type of asterisk you mentioned about his freestyle career could also be applied to college. So get this. In 1972, as a sophomore, Schalles won the NCAA D II wrestling championships. He was named outstanding wrestler of the tournament. Back in those days D II champs were allowed to compete in the D I tournament. So Schalles shows up a week later and wins the D I tourney as well, while also being named outstanding wrestler again. A year later Schalles again wins D I and D II titles (though he wasn't named OW). Heres the kicker, back in those days freshman were not allowed to compete in the NCAA tourney. And for Schalles, a technical/administrative oversight cost him the chance to compete in the NCAA tourney as a senior as well. So realistically Schalles could have been a 3x NCAA D I champ and a 3x NCCA D II champ!!!

I did not know this, thanks for sharing the information.
 
J

James Lee? I remember him. He was either a HW or LHW who fought in both PRIDE and the UFC around 2007-2008 right?

Yes, that is him.

I actually knew James lee, He wrestled at Southfield High School, the same high school as Kevin Lee, do you by any chance know if they are related?
 
Yes, that is him.

I actually knew James lee, He wrestled at Southfield High School, the same high school as Kevin Lee, do you by any chance know if they are related?

I am not sure but I do know that James Lee was known for his leglocks. It is funny, I never actually met him but heard about him quite a bit. I ran in to Don Richard a few times at tournaments and I guess him and Don Richard had a falling out over leglocks and whether to teach them or something. At least that was the hearsay. Leglocks are my favorite, even if the Kimura was my first love, so it would be interesting to get Lee's two cents on the matter.
 
Yes, that is him.

I actually knew James lee, He wrestled at Southfield High School, the same high school as Kevin Lee, do you by any chance know if they are related?
I don't know. I don't think so. I know Kevin has a younger brother named Keith but Im not sure about James. Seeing as how Lee is an incredibly common name and they do not look alike id probably guess no.
 
I am not sure but I do know that James Lee was known for his leglocks. It is funny, I never actually met him but heard about him quite a bit. I ran in to Don Richard a few times at tournaments and I guess him and Don Richard had a falling out over leglocks and whether to teach them or something. At least that was the hearsay. Leglocks are my favorite, even if the Kimura was my first love, so it would be interesting to get Lee's two cents on the matter.

James Lee used to have a gym on 8 mile road called MASH and they had some really good wrestlers training there, at one time I believe Casey Cunningham was training there. I think it them moved to Canton Michigan and I think you are right Don Richards taught the Jiu Jitsu there. You are right Lee is a common name, but it isn't really that common in the African American Community James may not look it, but he is light skinned African American. Southfield is not that big of a place, and it isn't really known for its wrestling so I was wondering if there was a connection.
 
I am not sure but I do know that James Lee was known for his leglocks. It is funny, I never actually met him but heard about him quite a bit. I ran in to Don Richard a few times at tournaments and I guess him and Don Richard had a falling out over leglocks and whether to teach them or something. At least that was the hearsay. Leglocks are my favorite, even if the Kimura was my first love, so it would be interesting to get Lee's two cents on the matter.

Kforce- If you see Eric Moon, could you do me a favor and ask him if James Lee and Kevin Lee are related? Moon would know, I am sure he trained with James, and he is currently a coach at Southfield High school. I have no idea why, but I have been wanting to know the answer for a long time.
 
Back
Top