2024 WIN Show – Mike and Bev at Their Final WIN Show

Monday, March 4th, 2024 | Book Signing, Books, WIN Magazine, Wrestling

Once again, Mike and Bev will have tables full of wrestling books and memorabilia for sale at the WIN/Fan Expo during the Division 1 NCAA Championships. The Expo will be held March 21-23 at the Kansas City Convention Center a few blocks from the wrestling arena, and 20,000 fans are expected to attend the Fan Expo over the three days.

It will be the final WIN Show for Mike and Bev, after creating it back in 1992 to offer fans a good place to gather between sessions of the tournament, the biggest showcase for amateur wrestling in the U.S. The first WIN Show had four exhibitors and drew about 600 fans. The special guests were two true legends – Dan Hodge of Oklahoma and Verne Gagne of Minnesota.

The show continued to grow rapidly through the years, and among the great guests they brought to the event were Doug Blubaugh, Bill Smith, Dan Gable, Randy Couture, Kurt Angle, Lee Kemp, John and Ben Peterson, Wayne Baughman, Wade Schalles, and many more!

“Bev and I have been honored to be a part of the show for over three decades, and we have truly enjoyed meeting all the fans that have made their way to our tables,” says Mike. “But the time has come for me to call it a day. At age 80, it’s just too difficult to prepare and set up. Kansas City will be our last WIN Show”.     

They will have many of Mike’s 32 books for sale, along with various wrestling items, some quite rare.



Their special guests on Saturday will be Ed and Lou Banach, the legendary brothers who played a huge role in the success of the Iowa program in the early 1980s, during the glory years of the Dan Gable era.  Ed was a three-time NCAA champion and four-time finalist, at 177 and 190, and still today is the career Iowa leader with 73 pins. Lou was a two-time NCAA champion and three-time All-American at heavyweight despite being outweighed in almost every match.

Both used a wide-open, go-for-broke style that made them fan favorites all around the country. Lou pinned such great wrestlers as NCAA champions Bruce Baumgartner and Tab Thacker, and four-time All-American Steve “Dr. Death” Williams. Thacker weighed over 400 pounds when Lou pinned him in the 1983 NCAA meet.

To top off their sensational careers, both of them won gold medals in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, Ed at 198 pounds and Lou at 220.

The Dan Hodge Trophy, which Mike created in 1995, will also be on display at their table. It is often called “the Heisman Trophy of wrestling” and over one million fans have seen it presented in person, at wrestling banquets and college football games.

Tags: Dan Hodge Trophy, Ed Banach, Lou Banach

No comments yet.

To comment on the story, leave a comment below.
To contact Mike, go to the contact page