MELVIN ALLEN “DOC” NORTHRUP (1908–1978) wrestled competitively for the Club for almost 30 years, winning titles in four different decades. He began his wrestling career at Washington State University. After graduating in 1933, he became a veterinarian at the San Francisco Pet Hospital and retired from the mat. He was stricken with early arthritis in 1935, and his doctor suggested he take up wrestling to keep him “loosened up.”
Northrup joined the Club and began wrestling in freestyle competitions in 1936. He won his first Pacific Coast title in 1937, his first Far Western in 1939, and eventual conquered national competition, winning AAU titles in 1943, 1944, and 1945. In 1948 he traveled to London for the Olympics as an alternate on the U.S. wrestling squad. He collected one international title — he won the 160.5lbs freestyle event at the 1951 Pan American games in Buenos Aires — as well as any number of local and regional titles.
To his fellow Club wrestlers, Northrup was more than another competitor — he was a coach and a leader. He worked with the younger guys, teaching them his famous moves, like his unstoppable takedown maneuvers and his front headlock. His son, Ben, finally beat him during competition in 1960 (the same year Ben represented the U.S. at the Olympic Games in Rome). Ben won National AAU titles in Greco- Roman events three times: 1959, 1964, and 1967.
By 1955, at age 47, when most competitors would think about retiring, he kept competing… and winning. He won another AAU national title, 10 years after his last. He finished second at the Pan American games in Mexico City that same year. In 1965, when he was 57-years-old, he decided to test himself on the competitive mat one more time. He traveled to the Arizona State wrestling championship, where he beat an NCAA star on the way to the state title. He finally retired from competition in the late 1960s, but did not stray far from the mat. Doc was inducted posthumously to the California Hall of Fame.
