Kenny Monday

CTL-E-6899 · Person · other · contemporary

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07771 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6899.

Kenny Dale Monday (born November 25, 1961, in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American freestyle wrestler who broke his sport's Olympic color barrier. A four-time Oklahoma state champion at Tulsa's Booker T. Washington High School, he wrestled at Oklahoma State University, compiling a 121–12–2 career record, three All-America honors and the 1984 NCAA championship at 150 pounds. At the Seoul Olympics in 1988 he won the freestyle gold medal, becoming the first Black wrestler to win an Olympic gold medal in wrestling; he added the 1989 World Championship and a silver medal at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, and competed at a third Games in Atlanta in 1996. He was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member in 2001. In 2022 Morgan State University hired him, effective August 24, to lead its revived men's wrestling program — the only Division I wrestling program at an HBCU — returning the sport to the school after a twenty-five-year absence.

The record

• Also known as: Kenny Dale Monday

Notes

Sports Encyclopedia roster CTL-SPE-0186. Firsts disposition: ASSERTED — first Black wrestler to win an Olympic gold medal (Seoul 1988). Two-source basis: Morgan State University's appointment announcement ('first Black wrestler in history to win an Olympic gold medal') and USA Wrestling / National Wrestling Hall of Fame ('first African American to win an Olympic gold medal in wrestling'). The description does not state his 1996 placing: sources conflict (National Wrestling Hall of Fame biography and Morgan State give sixth; an Oklahoma State retrospective gives fourth). His United World Wrestling Hall of Fame year is likewise stated inconsistently across sources (2016 vs 2018) and is omitted. Curator's Judgment (DRAFT): Monday's second act may prove as consequential as his first: the barrier-breaker of 1988 now runs the only Division I wrestling program at an HBCU. The Morgan State appointment turns a personal first into an institutional pipeline. Photo: CLEARED — Kenny Monday (53221829688) (cropped).jpg, CC BY 2.0 (file carries Commons Category:Kenny Monday, confirming the depiction; a 1991 public-domain group photograph was passed over because its caption names a different fifth wrestler than its filename does).

Relationships

• Morgan State University — affiliated with
  Morgan State University announced Monday as its men's wrestling head coach effective August 24, 2022. (The schema's head_coach_of predicate reaches Organization only, and Morgan State is a School, so affiliated_with is the legal wiring; see blocked edges.)

Sources

• National Wrestling Hall of Fame, 'Kenny Monday' (bio/377) — November 25, 1961–present; Olympic gold in 1988, silver in 1992 and sixth in 1996; at Oklahoma State the 150-pounder ran up a 121-12-2 career record, twice a runner-up before capturing the 1984 NCAA title; honored as a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame — https://api.nwhof.org/national-wrestling-hall-of-fame/bio/377 (primary source · build store)
• Morgan State University, 'Olympic Gold Medalist Selected to Lead Revived Wrestling Program at Morgan State University' (2022) — Monday, the first Black wrestler in history to win an Olympic gold medal, hired as men's wrestling coach effective August 24, 2022; Olympic gold medalist (1988) and silver medalist (1992), World Champion (1989), three-time All-American and NCAA Champion (1984); inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame (2001), Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame (2003) and United World Wrestling International Hall of Fame — https://www.morgan.edu/news/new-wrestling-coach (primary source · build store)
• USA Wrestling / National Wrestling Hall of Fame & Museum, 'African American Hall of Fame members' biographies' (January 24, 2008) — 'At the Seoul Olympics, Kenny Monday became the first African American to win an Olympic gold medal in wrestling. He also won a world championship in 1989 and a silver medal in Barcelona. He was an NCAA champion in 1984 and a runner-up in 1982 and 1983' — http://content.usawmembership.com/articles/17882 (primary source · build store)
• Oklahoma State University Athletics, 'African-American Wrestlers Thrive At Oklahoma State' (2008) — Monday won 121 matches at OSU, the NCAA crown at 150 pounds in 1984, gold at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and silver at the 1992 Barcelona Games; USA Wrestling Athlete of the Year in 1988 — https://okstate.com/news/2008/2/29/African_American_Wrestlers_Thrive_At_Oklahoma_State (build store)

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Record CTL-E-6899 · Combined Graph record U-07771 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 4 sources · 1 mapped relationship.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

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