The 1924 edition of the ISU yearbook, The Bomb, holds a visual reminder of the good old days for the sport of wrestling.

A picture of 11 students camped in the stairway of State Gym was taken three days before tickets for a dual against Penn State, each representing a group trying to get matside seats. One student brought a bedspread and mattress to hold his place through the nights.

Wrestling meets would once sell out the Armory. After its construction in 1971, Hilton Coliseum was sold out past its 14,057-seat capacity four times for wrestling meets.

On Sunday, Iowans from across the state will pack into Hilton, shoulder-to-shoulder, to watch Iowa State wrestle Iowa.

Denny Diehl, wrestling historian, said the rivalry dual has drawn over 10,000 fans 33 times since the mid-’50s.

That feat has no chance of being repeated this weekend, as capacity will be restricted to just 9,000 people. The meet was announced to be sold out Monday evening.

The curtain that was hung to divide Hilton into two halves during wrestling meets will not be taken down.

Keeping the divider was wrestling coach Cael Sanderson’s idea and supported by Athletic Director Jamie Pollard. It will be moved back to accommodate 1,000 more fans than usual. Before the curtain was hung, even those sitting in certain sections of the lower bowl of Hilton could put their feet up on the seat in front of them.

Pollard said the decision boils down to the coaches preferring to restrict walk-up ticket sales to encourage season ticket sales and future excitement.

“We know they’re out there,” Sanderson said of wrestling fans. “History would show that we can sell out Hilton with wrestling fans. The question is how do we do it? How do we make it a priority for them to come? You know, and it’s – anytime I’m out and about in the state, people know what’s going on with our program, but are they coming to our matches? Not a lot of them, and why that is is something that we have to work on.”

Sanderson said has learned that building a fan base is a slow process.

Entering his first year as head coach last year, he expected the wrestling program sell 1,500 season tickets, but the number ended up being just over 600. This season, there are 1,310 season ticket holders, a product of last year’s team success and added incentives for season ticket-holders.

It was Sanderson’s idea to keep the curtain and limit the attendance. He said the wrestling coaching staff looks to other sports, like football, for ideas. This past football season, no single-game tickets were sold for the Iowa-Iowa State game.

“It takes a lot,” Sanderson said. “You’ve got to go out there, and it’s just marketing and [public relations]. In this day and age, you can’t expect people to be there because you have a good team. You’ve got to let them know, and when they’re there you’ve got to entertain them.”

The last crowd over 8,000 people (8,119) at an ISU meet was in 2002, when Sanderson broke the school’s all-time wins record in his last home dual.

During his senior season, the draw of Sanderson’s undefeated run brought in an average of more than 6,000 fans per meet. Complete attendance numbers were not kept before 2004, said Tom Kroeschell, associate director in athletic communications.

In the 2004-05 season, there was an average of 1,392 people at the eight home ISU duals. The next season, with a home dual versus Iowa, crowds increased to an average of 1,945.

Last season, in Sanderson’s first year as head coach, an average of 2,453 passed through the turnstiles at Hilton. That total was the sixth highest average of any wrestling program.

Steve Foster, commentator on Takedown Wrestling Radio, was raised in Boone and the Des Moines area and has regularly attended ISU dual meets since 1967.

He said he remembers when the Armory was filled to full capacity. Foster also remembers when wrestling results and information were consistent in the paper.

“In the state that loves wrestling and wants to know the latest about wrestling, they hardly put anything in the main paper in the biggest city in Iowa,” Foster said. “I think every year there is less and less and less [in the paper].”

Sanderson said he feels like often fans are unfamiliar with both Iowa and ISU wrestlers.

This season, only three of the regular Cyclone starters are from Iowa.

“If they’re not seeing that stuff on TV, how are they going to know about it?” Sanderson said. “It’s not in the paper, so I mean, it all goes hand-in-hand. But things are definitely growing. ESPN airs, I think, the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals live, where until my senior year in college – I think my last match was the first live match they had live – you know, ever. Before that I remember when I was in high school someone would have to tape [the NCAA Tournament] at 3 in the morning two months after the tournament.”

Former head coach Bobby Douglas said promotional budgets are a factor, and when he started as head coach, Iowa had a “huge” promotional budget while Iowa State had “almost none.”

Douglas said spending money to advertise helps draw fans, but attendance mainly depends on performance. He said Iowa State will continue to draw fans, as he believes the young Cyclone lineup will win a title in the next two years.

Mike Chapman, renowned wrestling author, said Sanderson is one of a handful of wrestling coaches that “gets” the entertainment aspects of wrestling.

Sanderson said he is trying to recruit “student athletes that wrestle a more entertaining style that have the attitude to bring the pride back.”

“We tell our guys this all the time. It’s just like the ‘Gladiator’ movie, you know, when the guy tells the gladiator, ‘If you want your freedom, you better win the crowd,'” Sanderson said. “It’s not about winning or losing – well, it is for him, ’cause if he’s losing, he’s not going to last long, obviously – but you’ve got to entertain them. But that’s what we’re working on. I think our fan base will continue to grow . I think the support is coming. It’s just not overnight. It doesn’t work like that. I wish it did.”