In the amazing and glamorous world of professional wrestling, and in the rough-and-tumble world of amateur wrestling, the loss of Daniel “Danny” Hodge at age 88 on Christmas Eve, 2020, marks the end to one of the most iconic legends in wrestling history. Hodge simply is the benchmark of wrestling in both styles. The greatest amateur wrestler to ever live, full stop, and one of the most respected, technical, and incredible talents of the 20th century inside the squared circle, Danny Hodge was a force to be reckoned with. He was someone I personally looked up to as someone who accomplished all he wanted in life and did it with grace and dignity.
Hodge was born on May 13th, 1932, in Perry Oklahoma. Growing up, it was apparent that Hodge would be destined for greatness; he was born with double tendons in his hands, which was responsible for his legendary grip strength. He won the Oklahoma High School Wrestling Championship in 1951 at 165-pounds. Danny would go on to join the University of Oklahoma’s wrestling squad; it was there that a legend was born and the greatest amateur wrestler of all time became famous.
Danny became notorious for being unbeatable at the University of Oklahoma. Hodge went an astonishing 46-0; thirty-six of these wins came with a pinfall, and in all of those wins, Hodge was reportedly never taken off his feet. He would not only win the Big-Seven conference championship three years in a row, but the NCAA Division I Championship in those same years, in 1955, 1956, and 1957. Hodge was the only other man to achieve this incredible feat; the other being Earl McCready in 1928 to 1930. Hodge is also the only amateur wrestler to ever appear on the cover of the luminous sports magazine “Sports Illustrated”.
During college career, Danny Hodge was also a continual Olympic contender. The highlight of his Olympic career was winning the silver medal in middleweight freestyle wrestling in the 1956 Melbourne Olympic. Though he never achieved much success afterwards, it never really bothered Hodge. Hodge was his own man, after all, and he knew he could do whatever he pleased.
When Hodge finally ended his tenure at the University of Oklahoma, the legend had already been etched. Hodge, however, wanted to do more. He became an amateur boxer in 1958, and astonishingly, won the Golden Gloves Championship that same year. He would have a fairly impressive amateur and professional career in boxing, going 17-0 (12 KO) and reportedly 8-2 (7 wins were documented), respectively. Boxing didn’t make Danny feel at home though. He wanted to do more; he wanted to become a professional wrestler.
When Danny Hodge retired from boxing in July of 1959, he started getting trained by professional wrestling legends Leroy McGuirk and Ed “The Strangler” Lewis. His professional wrestling debut would be in October of that same year. Hodge and fellow mat-master Angelo Savoldi had a heated rivalry that led to one of the most bizarre events in the history of that stage of slams. On May 27th, 1960, during a masterful boxing match between the two men, Danny Hodge’s father– William E. Hodge– had interrupted the match and stabbed Angelo Savoldi with a pen-knife. Savoldi required 70 stitches, while the elder Hodge was arrested and charged with “assault with a deadly weapon”.
Danny Hodge’s rivalry with Savoldi culminated in winning the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship on July 22, 1960. By 1962, the masterful artist was making close to $80,000 a year; in 2020, that is equivalent to $689,348.34. Hodge’s collective reigns with the Junior Heavyweight Championship would last over 10 years between eight reigns, more than anyone else in the history of the championship.
Hodge’s career was abruptly ended in 1976 after an automobile accident nearly cost him his life. The story of the accident is as incredible as it is fantastical, but truth is stranger than fiction. On March 17th, 1976, Daniel Hodge fell asleep at the wheel of his Volkswagen and crashed off a bridge into a creek in Louisiana. Submerging in over nine feet of water, and with a broken neck, the fearless Hodge used the incredible apple-crushing strength of his hands to save his own life. With one hand holding his broken neck in place, and the other to punch out the driver’s side window of his submerged vehicle, Hodge gathered his strength, leaving the vehicle behind, and walking up the hill to safety. Despite the self-heroics of Hodge’s hands, the broken neck would end his career as a professional wrestler.
The forcible retirement for Hodge never bothered him that much, after all, Hodge was his own man, and could do what he wanted. He remained within the professional wrestling business for the rest of his life, as an agent, advisor, and respected servant of the community of slam-masters. Danny Hodge’s accolades would be recognized as the pinnacle of greatness, when in 1995, the NCAA named the award for the best amateur wrestler of the year after him: the Dan Hodge Trophy; it was amateur wrestling’s equivalent to the Heisman Trophy of collegiate football.
Hodge had remained quietly retired and was content with life in his later years. His grip-strength had never waned, and he could still crush apples well into his eighties. Hodge was named in several wrestling halls of fame, both amateur and professional, throughout the 90’s and 2000’s. In the end, Danny Hodge lived a full life of excitement. He was someone that I think many people should look up to. He did what he wanted, and he did it in his own style. He was someone who never gave up, but decided when he wanted to do something else that interested him. Daniel Hodge is the legend that will live on forever and ever.