- See Less -Josiah Henson was more than a champion wrestler he was the leader of the sport of wrestling in America and the World.
Josiah Henson was born in Bristow Oklahoma and moved to Tulsa as a child. He of course had one of the greatest wrestlers of all time as his brother, Stanley Henson. Furthermore, in High School Art Griffith coached Josiah. Art Griffith later became a legend as a coach at what is now Oklahoma State University. Even with all these resources Josiah didn?t even letter on his high school team. When Josiah entered high school he entered at 86 lbs. He developed very slowly. He waited a year to enter the Naval Academy, not because of his maturity but because he needed to work on his studies. The navy gave him a chance to compete in wrestling but World War II started and he was hurried off to serve in the war.
After the war Josiah made the 52 Olympics in Helsinki and was one of the first wrestlers to compete internationally. He won the Bronze medal without knowing or understanding the rules.
Josiah Henson worked hard after the Olympics to codify the rules and steer the international and American rules so that they at least were somewhat similar. Furthermore he remained apart of the Olympic experience as a referee or administrator for every Olympics after 1952 to 2000 in Sydney. Furthermore he started Brute Wrestling with John Purnell which is now one of the main distributors of wrestling gear, and apparel.
Currently Josiah Henson is happily retired living in Tulsa dreaming of starting a new Business.
