Burley-Land 1979

[mh1]

Posted by dunkindonuts over on the Penn State site:

https://youtu.be/k6_OPImFVLs

[jdalu75]

Did anyone ever win an upper-body tie-up against Darryl?

[TMH]

This video reminded me that Burley was IMO the most athletic wrestler Lehigh ever had. He seemed to put himself in difficult positions a lot but always ending up on top. He turned it into an artform.

[Asa Packer]

I'm from the Burley era, give or take a few years. I recall sitting in the stands and saying, "here, take my leg". Never saw a wrestler who could give up his leg and still get the takedown as much as DB.
Underrated in Lehigh history. If you could say that about 2 time champ, 4 time finalist.

[jdalu75]

I was in grad school for Darryl's first two years and saw all his home and EIWA bouts. Terrific wrestler, his only weakness was that he sometimes had problems getting out from underneath. I saw him ridden out for three minutes at least once (but he won that bout!).

I don't know if anyone else remembers this, but Burley was one of the first Lehigh wrestlers (probably Mark Lieberman was the first) I saw who used upper-body throws a lot. As a freshman he would go in on a power trip attempt, but there was a hitch in his move, a slight hesitation; his opponent would react to the move but then freeze on the hesitation. Ironically, the hesitation made the move more effective because he caught his opponents flat-footed. As a soph there was no hesitation and he'd get the TD but his opponents often rolled through and avoided being pinned. That's what I remember, anyway.

[Sundayamqb]

This video reminded me that Burley was IMO the most athletic wrestler Lehigh ever had. He seemed to put himself in difficult positions a lot but always ending up on top. He turned it into an artform.

+1

So fluid ... agile ... quick ... exciting

[lu_alum]

Never saw a wrestler who could give up his leg and still get the takedown as much as DB.

Randy Lewis made a career of giving up his leg.
https://www.amazon.com/Randy-Lewis-Impo ... B06ZYWT51C

[D3 for LU]

I remembered watching Burley at the NCAA's At Princeton's Jadwin Gym.
I surely thought that he would've won that weekend... freaky loss imo to Iowa St. Gibbons.
(I thought the same thing when Kilrain lost to Clarion's Heller as well... )
Saw Lewis virtually limp onto the podium to close out his Hawkeye career.
Pure guts.
D3

[legger]

**** D3: Your mention of the 1981 Nationals at Princeton brought back a memory. I was there with my buddy Eddie Michalyra, (Beth. Steel buddy). We were waiting for the Finals and we saw something going on behind some partitions on the far side of the mat and decided to investigate. To our surprise All the AAs were there in uniform getting ready for the Parade of Champions. This was before security was enhanced.

We went back and were talking to the wrestlers. They were very friendly. I got pictures of both Burley and Gibbons, The Banach Brothers, Colin Kilrain, Jim Reilly, Steve Sefter, Gene Mills, Mike Deanna, Nate Carr, Andre Metzger, Mark Schultz, Ricky Dellagatta and Ricky Stewart. I wish I could find those pictures. I still may have them packed away in boxes or they may not have survived the many moves I have had over the years. If I ever locate them, I will post some of them.

[TMH]

As long as we are are being nostalgic...

In the fall of Burley's freshman year, all my "inside sources" in the room were telling me about this phenom from NJ. I believe one story was how, during a recruiting trip, he beat a visiting Toth-Fejel (AA) in the room. Of course I passed all this information to my fraternity friends who couldn't wait for wrestle-offs where Burley struggled to get by Richie Earl (5-4 in my fuzzy memory). Two bouts later, fellow frosh Lee Martucci pinned returning starter (I think) Mark Stauffer. I spent the entire night fending off accusations that I got the wrong guy. The rest is history.