America's Greatest Pinner and Four-Time NCAA and Collegiate World Champion, Coach, Guinness Book of World Records Holder, and the Father of Funk Wrestling
Author, Jacob's Cradle: There's More To Winning Than Gold, Charlotte's Gaff: A Mystery Thriller in the World of Wrestling, They Call It Wrestling: A Pictorial Anthology of the American Wrestler and The Book of Wrestling Trivia: One Thousand One Questions
This week on “Ira’s Everything Bagel,” Ira dives into a fascinating conversation with Wade Schalles, America’s unrivaled Pinner, Four-Time NCAA and Collegiate World Champion, Coach, Author, Guinness World Record Holder, and the revolutionary mind behind Funk Wrestling.
In this gripping episode, Wade unveils the origins of Funk Wrestling, his game-changing techniques that redefined the sport. He shares how his creative spark shone early in school. Wade drops powerful insights: failure is just a moment, not your identity; life’s about rising every time you’re knocked down; and if you don’t have at least 20 scars by the end, you haven’t truly lived. He reveals why the glass is always half full, how forgetting mistakes fast fuels success, and why the military hunts for wrestlers’ grit. Wade also explores wrestling’s unique pull for kids, its unmatched legacy among U.S. presidents, and his role as Executive Director of the Amateur Athletic Union for wrestling. Plus, he celebrates the surging rise of women’s wrestling. Don’t miss this high-energy episode packed with wisdom, grit, and heart…and a little humor!
Wade Schalles is an American wrestler, who won the Pennsylvania State High School Championships in 1969, pinning 96% of his opponents, a PA state record.
In college at Clarion University of Pennsylvania Mr. Schalles won four Pennsylvania State Conference Championships and received the Outstanding Wrestler award in each of those four years. During that same period, he was a two-time NCAA College Division Champion and two-time NCAA University Division Champion and the Outstanding Wrestler in each of those two divisions. His collegiate record, 153-5-1, with 106 pins, was for 15 years the NCAA record for pinning.
Wade is the father of Funk Wrestling, and creator of the Spladle, was a National Champion or All-American in all three disciplines of wrestling; Folkstyle, Freestyle and Greco-Roman, plus the allied disciplines of Judo and Sombo. Not that there’s a parallel here, but Mr. Schalles’ wide open and flexible style of wrestling might be paralleled to a slinky toy, given that both he and the toy hail from Hollidaysburg, PA.
He’s also holds the World Record for pinning the most opponents over a career and is in the Guinness Book of World Records as wrestling's all-time leader in victories with 821, which has recently been eclipsed, and pins as mentioned with 530, which has not.
During his career Mr. Schalles defeated 36 national champions, pinning 17 of them, and defeating eight World Champions, pinning four of them.
Internationally, Wade won the Gold Medal at both the World University Games, pinning 6 of 6 opponents, and Tbilisi International, pinning 5 of 6 opponents. In both events he was honored with the Outstanding Wrestler Award.
Wade was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1991, one of only a handful of wrestlers who were so honored during their first year of eligibility. In 2005, he was one of fifteen wrestlers, out of over 700 NCAA champions to be named to the NCAA’s 75th Anniversary First Team.