Brian Brakeman’s “High School Wrestling Forecasts” aka the “Brakeman Reports” (1972-2012)
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Brian Brakeman
For 41 years, Brian Brakeman produced the “High School Wrestling Forecast” aka the “Brakeman Report” where he predicted champions in every weight class, ranked the top 25 or so “top contenders”, highlighted unique strengths of the wrestlers, and pointed out potential key matchups at the state tournament.
Coaches would use the report for scouting purposes or to motivate their wrestlers to either “prove Brakeman wrong” or “prove him right”.
In his reports, Brakeman correctly predicted 2/3 of all Ohio state wrestling champions over this timespan.
Although Brakeman never wrestled, he was a manger for his high school wrestling team. During this time he became interested in analytics such as “the importance of getting the first takedown in a match”.
A few years later, Brian researched wrestling statistics for his doctorate dissertation (he has a PhD in statistics) and the next thing he knew he was working as a TV analyst for the state wrestling tournament in 1968.
In the early 70’s he started anchoring broadcasts of the postseason wrestling tournaments and he went on to become the face of Ohio wrestling media for over four decades.
Related Articles
What Brakeman Said About Every State Champion (1977-1982)
Brakeman Reports 1972-2012
Below you will find the original Brakeman Reports converted to an easy-to-read text format.
1972 Brakeman Report (Inaugural)
1973 Brakeman Report (2nd)
1974 Brakeman Report (3rd)
1975 Brakeman Report (4th)
1976 Brakeman Report (5th)
1977 Brakeman Report (6th)
1978 Brakeman Report (7th)
1979 Brakeman Report (8th)
1980 Brakeman Report (9th)
1981 Brakeman Report (10th)
1982 Brakeman Report (11th)
1983 Brakeman Report (12th)
1984 Brakeman Report (13th)
1985 Brakeman Report (14th) – Missing “A”
1986 Brakeman Report (15th) – Missing “A”
1987 Brakeman Report (16th)
1988 Brakeman Report (17th)
1989 Brakeman Report (18th)
1990 Brakeman Report (19th) – Missing D1 140-lb analysis
1991 Brakeman Report (20th)
1992 Brakeman Report (21st)
1993 – 1995 Brakeman Reports (coming soon)
*original copies can be found at the bottom of this page*
1996 Brakeman Report (25th)
1997 Brakeman Report (26th)
1998 Brakeman Report (27th)
1999 Brakeman Report (28th)
2000 Brakeman Report (29th)
2001 Brakeman Report (30th)
2002 Brakeman Report (31st)
2003 Brakeman Report (32nd)
2004 Brakeman Report (33rd)
2005 Brakeman Report (34th)
2006 Brakeman Report (35th)
2007 Brakeman Report (36th)
2008 Brakeman Report (37th)
2009 Brakeman Report (38th)
2010 Brakeman Report (39th)
2011 Brakeman Report (40th)
2012 Brakeman Report (41st)
We are still missing the following portions of Brakeman Reports:
- 1985 “A”
- 1986 “A”
If you have a copy of these reports you can share, please contact us at [email protected]
Brakeman’s Farewell
January 2013
After more than 40 years and well over 3,000 pages, it seems time to draw the curtain on the Brakeman Report. It has been a labor of (mostly) love, but its objective from the start–identifying and forecasting the participants in the state meet–has been rendered unnecessary by the explosion of data and data analysts on the Internet. It is a decision, I make with some misgivings since I have always enjoyed the process which lead up to the report. Still, it will now be the first January since 1971 that I will be able to really enjoy without the specter of hard-to-make deadlines.
It has been a privilege to work with the various constituencies within the wrestling community which I hope to maintain in the future. I would like to thank all the folks who have given me so much help over the years, particularly the three principal typists–the late Arnetta Moore, the superstar for over two decades, Kim (Fiftyfingers) Manning, and my own first cousin, the long suffering Nancy Dimitris. And, in addition, I truly have appreciated all my readers and the many comments (both positive and negative) that they have so often provided.
Brian Brakeman and Brian Miluk broadcasting – circa 1999