Greatest finals singlet ?

While "the greatest" in many wrestling categories can be endlessly debated, one category that I think has an undisputed answer is the greatest finals singlet.

Finals singlets hold a special place in wrestling aesthetics.  The right to wear one has to be earned.  Not just making the team, not just earning the varsity spot in your weight class, you have to win your way to the finals of a tournament to have the honor of wearing one.

They also give the team an opportunity to express their visual identity through an alternate singlet design.  Traditionally, many finals singlets were white or a team’s lighter colour.  However, there are no specific rules for a finals singlet and over the years we have seen singlets from loud to minimalist .

However, the greatest all-time finals singlet has no design.  It's a logoless solid black singlet.  But the design is not the reason it's the greatest , it's the lore behind it.

During the 2020-21 wrestling season, Stanford announced that they would be discontinuing their wrestling program at the end of the season.  At the end of the season tournament, Stanford's 165-pound wrestler, Shane Griffith, battled his way to the finals.  On Saturday night, in front of a sell-out crowd in the Enterprise Center in St. Louis and televised on ESPN , Shane walked out in a solid black singlet.  No Stanford logos, no brand logos, totally black.  The coaching staff was also in all black in his corner.  It was a bold statement. 

Then, continuing his underdog run from the No. 8 seed, Shane went out and won the NCAA title .

Less than two months later, Stanford wrestling was reinstated.  Many consider Shane's run as saving the program.  

That's why a solid black singlet is considered the greatest finals singlet in NCAA wrestling history.