Kenny Dale Monday (born November 25, 1961) is an

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

gold medalist and three-time

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

wrestler Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves diffe ...

from

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

. He began wrestling at age six at a

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

after-school program and grew up idolizing Olympic wrestler Wayne Wells. Monday is a three-time Olympian. Monday attended Booker T. Washington High School in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...

, where he won four state titles and the 1977 Junior National championship. He never lost a match from seventh grade through the end of high school and finished with a record of 140–0–1. As an All-American at OSU, Monday won the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

title in 1984 at 150 pounds. His collegiate record of 121–12–2 contributed to the Cowboys winning two Big Eight titles. He won the 1989 World Championship and a series of USA Freestyle championships in 1985, 1988, 1991, and 1996. He won the Olympic Championship in 1988 in a 5–2 overtime win against the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Adlan Varaev Adlan Abuevich Varaev (; 2 January 1962 – 4 May 2016) was a Russian-Chechen welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term ''welterweight'' was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like muay Thai, ta ...

. Monday was voted the outstanding wrestler of the Grand Masters of Olympic Wrestling in 1990, after beating

Rahmat Sofiadi Rahmat Sukra Sofiadi (born 15 November 1965) is a Bulgarian former wrestler who competed in the 1988 Summer Olympics and in the 1992 Summer Olympics. Sofiadi's mother is Bulgarian while his father is Indonesia Indonesia, officially the R ...

of Bulgaria. Monday was a silver medalist in the 1992 Olympics and placed sixth in the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics. In 2001, Monday was inducted into the

National Wrestling Hall of Fame The National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum and hall of fame for amateur wrestling, headquartered in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 2010, it began operating the Dan Gable Museum in Waterloo, Iowa. History The museum was awarded to Stil ...

as a Distinguished Member. On March 28, 1997, Monday competed in a

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...

bout defeating John Lewis by TKO in round two at Extreme Fighting 4, which was held in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...

. Monday has also worked as the wrestling coach with the

Blackzilians The Blackzilians was a professional team of fighters in mixed martial arts, boxing, kickboxing, amateur wrestling and catch wrestling located in South Florida. The team had included former UFC champions Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort, Eddie Alvarez ...

, a

camp based in

Boca Raton, Florida Boca Raton ( ; ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 97,422 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and it ranked as the 23rd-largest city in Florida in 2022. Many people with a Boca Raton Address, ...

. He is married to Sabrina Goodwin Monday (National Sales Director for Mary Kay Cosmetics) and has three children. Both his sons would become NCAA Division I wrestlers. His oldest son Kennedy wrestled for the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...

, and his younger son Quincy currently wrestles for

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. Monday currently resides in

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. On August 15, 2022, Monday was announced as the head wrestling coach of the resurrected

Morgan State University Morgan State University (Morgan State or MSU) is a Public university, public historically black colleges and universities, historically black research university in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland. It is the largest of Maryland's historically bla ...

program that last competed in 1997.

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Win , align=center , 1–0 , John Lewis , TKO (punches) , Extreme fighting 4 , , align=center , 2 , align=center , 4:23 ,

, USA ,

Submission grappling record

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Matt Hume Matt Hume (born July 14, 1966) is an American former professional mixed martial artist, trainer, and businessman. He is the co-founder and head trainer at AMC Pankration in Kirkland, WA. Hume and his AMC team have trained several champions and ...

, , Submission (toe hold) , , The Contenders, , October 11, 1997, , 1, , 0:45, , , -

References

External links

*
Sherdog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monday, Kenny 1961 births Living people Sportspeople from Tulsa, Oklahoma Booker T. Washington High School (Tulsa, Oklahoma) alumni Oklahoma State University alumni Oklahoma State Cowboys wrestlers Wrestlers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in wrestling Olympic silver medalists for the United States in wrestling American male sport wrestlers Sportspeople from Stillwater, Oklahoma Wrestlers at the 1991 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1991 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in wrestling African-American sport wrestlers 20th-century American sportsmen

Mixed martial arts record

Submission grappling record

See also

References

External links