Pat Smith is a former folkstyle and freestyle wrestler. He competed collegiately at Oklahoma State University (OSU) and later served as an assistant coach at OSU. During his collegiate wrestling career, Smith became the first four-time NCAA Division I champion in the sport's history. His older brother is John Smith, who was a two-time NCAA champion, six-time gold medalist at the World and Olympic levels, and former head wrestling coach at Oklahoma State.
Cael Norman Sanderson is an American former folkstyle and freestyle wrestler who is the current head coach of Penn State's wrestling team. As a wrestler, he won an Olympic gold medal and was undefeated in four years of college wrestling at Iowa State (159–0), becoming a four-time NCAA Division I champion (1999–2002).
John William Smith is an American folkstyle and freestyle wrestler and coach. Smith was a two-time NCAA Division I national champion, and a six-time world level champion with two Olympic Championships and four World Wrestling Championships. Smith is the only American wrestler ever to win six consecutive World and Olympic championships as a competitor. At the end of his competitive career, Smith had won more World and Olympic gold medals in wrestling than any other American. Smith was widely known for his low single leg takedown, and is considered one of the greatest freestyle wrestlers of all time.
David Lesley Schultz was an American Olympic and World champion freestyle wrestler, and a seven-time World and Olympic medalist. He coached individuals and teams at the college level and also privately.
Stephen Anthony Abas is an American Olympic freestyle wrestler and mixed martial artist. Abas became a three-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion in the 125 lb (57 kg) weight division while attending Fresno State University. He has competed in two world freestyle championships and received a silver medal at the 2004 Olympic Games.
Rocky Rasley is a former American football guard in the National Football League (NFL) from 1969 to 1970, 1972–1976. He attended Bakersfield's South High School and Bakersfield College before enrolling at Oregon State University where he played college football under Dee Andros during the "Giant Killers" season of 1967. The entire 1967 squad was later inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame. Rasley was also inducted into the Bob Elias Kern County Sports Hall of Fame.
Kerry R. McCoy is an American wrestler and executive director and head coach of the Lehigh Valley Wrestling Club regional training center. He competed at the Olympic Games twice and four times at the World Cup Championships. In college he was a three-time NCAA All-American and a two-time NCAA National Champion. He was the head coach of the University of Maryland's wrestling program for eleven years, stepping down in 2019. In 2014, McCoy was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member.
Samuel "Sammie" Henson is a World Champion wrestler, winning a gold medal in freestyle for the USA at the 1998 FILA Wrestling World Championships, held in Tehran, Iran. He was also a silver medalist at the 2000 Summer Olympics in the freestyle 54 kg category, losing to Abdullayev in the finals of that event, held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. At the age of 36, he competed at the 2006 FILA Wrestling World Championships held in Guangzhou, China, earning a bronze medal. He was named USA Wrestling's Man of the Year in 1998.
Robert Edward Douglas is a retired American freestyle wrestler and coach. He competed as a featherweight at the 1964 and 1968 Olympics and placed fourth in 1964. He won a silver and a bronze medal at the 1966 and 1970 world championships, respectively, and retired later in 1970. After that Douglas coached several U.S Olympic teams, is one of only four collegiate coaches to win more than 400 dual meets, and he won an NCAA team national title at Arizona State in 1988. His coaching accomplishments include: 13 NCAA champions, 110 All-America performances, and 68 conference titles.
The Oklahoma State Cowboys wrestling team is the most successful NCAA Division I athletic program of all time in any sport. As of 2023-24, Oklahoma State wrestling has won 34 team national championships, 143 individual NCAA championships, and 488 All-American honors. The all-time dual record for the program is 1185-140-23.
Richard Joseph "Rick" Sanders was an American folkstyle and freestyle wrestler. He won gold medals at the 1967 Pan American Games and 1969 World Championships, finishing second at the 1968 and 1972 Olympics and 1967 World Championships. After the 1972 Olympics, while traveling to Greece, he was killed in a car accident in Skopje, Yugoslavia. In 1987, Sanders was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member.
Leslie Lyle Gutches is an American former wrestler and coach. His accomplishments include becoming a World Champion in freestyle wrestling at the 1997 World Wrestling Championships, the Dan Hodge Trophy as the nation's best college wrestler in 1996, becoming the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) champion in the 177 lb. weight division in both 1995 and 1996, earning All-American status in 1994, 1995 & 1996, becoming a member of the 1996 United States Olympics freestyle wrestling team and winning numerous other tournaments and honors.
Harry Geris was a Canadian Olympic wrestler who represented Canada in the 1968, 1972, and 1976 Olympics, 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games and 1975 Pan American Games.
Frank Wiatt Lewis was an American wrestler and Olympic champion. He competed at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, where he earned a gold medal in the freestyle welterweight (72 kg) division.
Yojiro Uetake is a Japanese wrestler and two-time Olympic champion in freestyle wrestling. He went undefeated for the entirety of his college career, winning three consecutive NCAA Championships. Uetake was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma as a Distinguished Member in 1980. In 2005, he was inducted into the FILA Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.
Wayne Turner Wells is an American wrestler and Olympic champion in freestyle wrestling at the 1972 Olympic Games. Wells was born in Abilene, Texas and grew up in Oklahoma. In 1982, Wells was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member.
Donald Ray "Don" Behm is an American wrestler and coach. He was Olympic silver medalist in freestyle wrestling in 1968.
Eric Guerrero is a retired amateur American freestyle wrestler, who competed in the men's lightweight category. He won three consecutive NCAA (1997–1999) and four U.S. Open titles (2001–2004), scored two medals in the 58 and 60-kg division at the Pan American Games, and represented the United States at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Melvin L. Douglas III of Topeka, Kansas is an American wrestler who was the 1993 World Champion, and made six World championship teams for the United States, including appearances at two Olympic games, and was a two-time NCAA Division I Champion for the University of Oklahoma. In 2013, Douglas was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member.
William Bill Harlow is an American former freestyle and folkstyle wrestler. In 2016, Harlow was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member.
