Penn State Wrestling: Most Dominant Seasons by a Nittany Lions Wrestler – Sanshiro Abe 1996
Continuing our ongoing series of reliving some of the most dominant individual seasons for Penn State Wrestling.
This is now the fifth installment as we previously highlighted the following stellar seasons:
Andy Matter – 1972 season
Jim Martin – 1988 season
Carl DeStefanis – 1984 season
Jeff Prescott – 1991
And in this article, we highlight a Japanese wrestler who competed for the Nittany Lions, Sanshiro Abe.
However, Abe was not the first talented grappler from the country of Japan to compete for Penn State. Back in 1924, Katsutoshi Naito wrestled for Penn State. Additionally, he became the first Penn State athlete (in any sport) to compete for a country other than the United States in the Olympics.
Then in 1983 head coach Rich Lorenzo hired Hachiro Oishi as an assistant coach. Oishi represented Japan in the Olympics in 1972 and coached in Happy Valley from 1983-1999. Furthermore, Oishi was named Assistant Coach of the Year in 1993.
And just as the 2025 NCAA Championships came to a close, the reigning 61 kg world champion from Japan pledged his commitment to the Nittany Lions. Masanosuke Ono is the real deal and it’s going to be fun for the Penn State Wrestling faithful to see what he can do on the mat.
So as you can clearly see, high-level wrestlers from Japan and Penn State Wrestling have a long and storied history. Now let’s dive into Sanshiro Abe’s amazing career for Penn State
Sanshiro Abe Freshman – Junior Years for Penn State Wrestling
Freshman Year 1992-1993
Sanshiro, know to many people as “Sunny”, burst out onto the wrestling scene by winning the first 10 matches of his Nittany Lion career.
But even for redshirt freshman, there are always bumps along the road. And this was no different for Abe as he took a 24-6 record into the 1993 B1G Championships.
Sunny won his first three matches to punch his ticket to the finals. But it was far from easy. Abe won all three matches by decision and all of them were high scoring.
And his prize for making it to the finals was a matchup against Ohio State’s two-time All-American Adam DiSabato. However, Abe wrestled a match well beyond his years and stunned DiSabato with a 4-3 decision win. Abe’s B1G Championship in 1993 would be his first of three conference titles for Penn State Wrestling career.
Then in the 1993 NCAA Championships, Abe won his first three matches where he would face Nebraska’s Tony Purler in the semifinals. And unfortunately for Sanshiro, Purler was wrestling at a different level than anyone else in the country.
Purler won a 3-0 decision and he eventually went on to claim the individual title at 126 pounds that year.
Abe then won a thriller in overtime, which set up a rematch against DiSabato in the third-place match. And in a back-and-forth battle it was DiSabato who came out on top with a gut-wrenching 6-5 decision win in overtime.
Hey, finishing fourth in the country your freshman year is still pretty damn good.
Sophomore Year 1993-1994
Just when Abe thought he had seen the last of Tony Purler, right out of the gate his first match of the 1993-1994 was against Tony’s twin brother, Nick.
And the result was pretty much exactly the same as it was in the previous year’s NCAA semifinals. Sanshiro dropped a tough 5-2 decision loss. To make matters worse, Abe and Purler locked horns yet again the very next day. However this time the match was significantly closer. However the outcome was still the same with Nick prevailing 3-2.
From that point on Sanshiro Abe turned a switch. He rattled off 26 straight wins which notched his second straight B1G title and landed him in his second consecutive NCAA semifinals match.
But that wasn’t the end of Abe’s “second straight” occurrences. Because for the second straight year Sanshiro would also lose a razor-close match to the eventual NCAA Champion in his weight class. This time it was at the hands of Cornell great David Hirsch.
The soul crushing 6-4 loss in overtime sent Abe down to the consolation bracket.
Now I have zero idea what that has to feel like as a competitor. To come so close to reaching your goals, but at the same time so far away. There’s no chance that felt great.
But this is a point in Sanshiro Abe’s story that proves just how great of a wrestler and competitor that he was.
Abe shook off the tough loss to Hirsch and promptly took down Iowa’s three-time All-American Jeff McGinness (5-3) in his first consolation match and then dispatched Ohio University’s two-time All-American Shawn Enright (11-5) to claim third place in the 1994 NCAA’s.
Junior Year 1994-1995
Sanshiro’s junior campaign for Penn State was very similar to his previous year. Albeit it was sprinkled in with a lot more matches against the aforementioned McGinness.
Abe dropped an early bout against UNC all-time great T.J. Jaworsky, however, this was his last match that season at 134 pounds. And outside of his loss up at 134, Sunny only lost to one other guy that entire season.
Unfortunately, the “only loss to one other guy” encompassed a total of three matches.
During the Penn State/Iowa regular-season dual meet, McGinness got the better of Sanshiro in a tight 8-7 decision. Then after plowing his way to the finals of the 1995 B1G Championships by way of a major decision and fall, Abe fell once again to McGinness. However, this match was a little more lopsided with Jeff coming away with the 6-1 win.
Speaking of “plowing”, Abe dusted off the B1G finals loss and laid absolute waste to the field in the 1995 NCAA Championships.
Sanshiro finally broke through and punched his ticket to the finals after a 9-3 win over Nebraska’s All-American Steve Baer in the semifinals. And including that result, Abe outscored his first four opponents to the tune of 50-16. So yeah, I’d say he was pretty dialed in.
But his counterpart in the 1995 NCAA finals was also dialed. And that man was Iowa’s Jeff McGinness.
So for the third time in the 1994-1995 season, Sanshiro Abe would stand toe to toe against Jeff McGinness. This time it was for all of the marbles.
Look, I would love to say that Abe exorcised his McGinness demons and climbed to the wrestling pinnacle. But high-level wrestling doesn’t have any fairytale endings. And for the third time that year, McGinness was again the victor. Sanshiro finished runner-up, thus claiming his third straight All-American finish.
At that point in his career, Abe had a fourth, third, and second-place finish in the NCAA’s. And with one more year of eligibility in Happy Valley, there was only one way he wanted to finish.
Sanshiro Abe Senior Year for Penn State Wrestling 1995-1996
Regular Season
Abe completely blitzed the field during the 1995-1996 regular season.
He rode a perfect 21-0 record into the 1996 B1G Championships. And of his 21 wins, only five were by decision. His bonus wins included a lone major decision, eight technical falls, and six pins.
1996 B1G Championships
Heading into the 1996 B1G Championships, Sanshiro knew three things:
-Nobody was wrestling at his level
-Results in the B1G Championships don’t really mean anything
-Jeff McGinness was also in the 126 field
Touching on the first point, Abe could have easily just cruised his way through the first two matches. Thus saving some energy for his inevitable finals matchup against McGinness.
But that’s not what he did.
Instead, Sanshiro gave all-out effort and proceeded to pin both of his opponents to make the finals. McGinness also made the finals, however, he was clearly banged up.
And what should have been an electric match in the finals, ended with Abe winning by default over McGinness. Not exactly how the rivalry in college should have ended.
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1996 NCAA Championships
Abe flew out of the blocks in the 1996 NCAA Championships.
He pinned his first-round opponent in the second period and then won an 18-3 technical fall in his next match.
Northwestern’s Scott Schatzman was next up in the quarterfinals. And while Schatzman would go on to become a three-time All-American, he was no match for a fifth-year senior like Abe.
Sanshiro breezed by into the semifinals with a 10-4 decision win over Schatzman. Which then set up a match in the semifinals against Wisconsin Hall of Famer Eric Jetton. But it didn’t matter who stood across from Abe. He was going to win no matter what it took.
Jetton for sure tested Abe. But “tested” is a far cry from “defeated”. Following the 6-4 decision over Jetton, Abe then faced Iowa State great Dwight Hinson in the finals.
Hinson and Abe faced each other once before in a tournament the prior year. Sanshiro ended up getting the win (8-6), however, Hinson really made him work for it.
And in the finals matchup, Abe made a point to get to his offense first. Which would then put the pressure on Hinson.
His strategy worked perfectly as Abe snagged two first-period takedowns.
Leading 4-2 going into the second period, Abe gave up a quick escape to Hinson. Then after circling the mat for a bit, Dwight struck and landed a perfect double to take the lead 5-4. Sanshiro then quickly escaped to knot the score at 5-5 heading into the final period.
Abe started on bottom position, where he quickly escaped to retake the lead 6-5.
Hinson tried to mount an attack in the final minute of the period. But Sanshiro’s defense, quickness, and strength were unmatched.
The seconds ticked down and the clock finally hit triple zero’s. Sanshiro Abe had finally done it. He was the 1996 NCAA Champion at 126 pounds.
For the season, Abe was a perfect 29-0. Additionally, 20 of those wins were via bonus points. Thus giving him a bonus percentage of 69%.
Nice.
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Sanshiro Abe Penn State Wrestling Career
Sanshiro Abe became only the third Penn State Wrestler to ever finish with four All-American honors. The prior two were Greg Elinsky and Jim Martin. So that gives you an idea of where he falls in the pantheon of Nittany Lion Wrestling.
Was it fitting that he rode off into the collegiate sunset with a small straight of NCAA finishes (4th, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st)? I’m not sure. As I said before, there isn’t any room for Hollywood endings in high end wrestling. You get what you get by earning it.
Prior to Cael Sanderson landing in University to become the Penn State Wrestling coach in 2009, there were only a total of four guys in program history who had four All-American finishes. Abe was one of them.
And to this day there are only seven guys in Nittany Lion history with more wins than him.
Sanshiro Abe was a phenomenal wrestler and he is without a doubt one of the best to ever suit up for Penn State Wrestling.
Years: 1993-1996
Record: 125-15
Conference titles: 3 (1993, 1994, & 1996)
NCAA finish: 4th (1993), 3rd (1994), 2nd (1995), & 1st (1996)
Penn State Accolades
8th in all-time wins (125)
3rd in all-time major decisions (39)
T22nd in all-time technical falls (11)
11th in all-time bonus wins (72)
Education: Penn State University
Location: State College, PA
Even though he had no prior journalism experience, Chris has now covered Penn State Wrestling and Penn State Football for the past three years, including as the Penn State Wrestling Beat Writer for VictoryBellRings.com, part of the FanSided network.
And it's clear he also likes constant torture as he's been a PSU Basketball fan for way too long.
Several years back, Chris made the seamless transition from PGA Professional to computer programmer and thoroughly enjoys following and writing about all things related to Penn State sports during his spare time.