A basketball coach's derision, a job cutting grass, and a military mixup led to one of the most successful wrestling careers in the history of the sport at Harvard. Johnny Lee, two time team captain and one time paratrooper, in the holder of this enviable record.

The Newton commuter has won 28 consecutive dual matches in the 123 pound division and has never been defeated in this type of competition. He also won the National AAU championship his sophomore year, was an alternate on the 1951 Pan-American team, a member of the U.S.A. squad which toured Japan during the summer of 1951, and fourth in the tryouts for the 1952 Olympic team.

This career, far from arising as a result of a schoolboy dream, was launched by a basketball coach's chance remark. Lee, when playing on a club team at Exeter, was removed from the game because "he wasn't trying." At that moment Ted Seabrook, the wrestling coach, happened to be on the floor. Seeing the small but well be on the floor. Seeing the small but well built Lee, he suggested he come out for the wrestling team, where he could "compete with guys more his own size."

Learns at Iowa

The summer following his graduation from Exeter, Lee obtained a job working on the grounds crew at Iowa State Teachers College, one of the wrestling centers of the United States, where he "learned more in two months than in all the time in prep school." Though the team at Iowa State wasn't officially in training, wrestling is a 12 month sport there, and someone was always willing to teach or work out with Lee.

He tied down the 123 division here his sophomore year by going undefeated in all competition and culminated his best year by winning the National AAU's held in Iowa. That summer he was selected for a team of five wrestlers which toured the islands of Japan. His record for the sojourn was five wins and three defeats. During this time he twice competed against the Olympic champion, Shohaci Ishii.

The following year, because of a locked knee and subsequent operation, he was unable to come out until February, but once again was undefeated in dual competition, placed third in the National AAU's, and fourth in the National Collegiate Tournament. It was in June of 1952 that he received that seldom looked for, often found, letter from his neighbors beginning simply, "Greetings."

Greetings

Departing from the steps of the Newton City Hall at 6:00 a.m. amid shouts of "give 'em hell for Newton," he began his army career. Though originally intended for physical instructors school, by virtue of a wrong turn he arrived at Fort Benning, Ga., and paratroop school. There followed a three week intensive course and successful jump. But his knee injury acted up so violently that he was shipped to Murphy General Hospital and finally discharged in September.

Again victorious this past season, he received his greatest disappointment in the Eastern Intercollegiate. Winning 5 to 1 over Lehigh's Jim McCord with 40 seconds to go, he was miraculously pinned before the 4000 fans in Princeton's Dillon Gym knew what happened. This Friday in his last college match, he will again meet McCord in the NCAA tourney at Penn State.

In the future, he hopes to attend the Business School and continue competing on an amateur level so as to be eligible for the 1956 Olympics. If this fails, he can fall back on the myriad of coaching jobs offered him in the last few years. These include posts at Fountain Valley School in Colorado Springs, the University of Virginia, and a tentative overture from Penn State.