Appalachian State University is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dougherty. The university expanded to include other programs in 1967 and joined the University of North Carolina System in 1971.
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).
Nathaniel Greene Pendleton was an American Olympic wrestler, film actor, and stage performer. His younger brother, Edmund J. Pendleton (1899–1987), was a well-known music composer and choir master and organist for the American Church in Paris.
Baraladei Daniel Igali is a Nigerian-Canadian wrestler. He won Canada's first ever Olympic gold medal in wrestling at the 2000 Summer Olympics and remains Canada's only male Olympic gold medalist in wrestling.
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.
William Dexter Coakley is an American former professional football linebacker who played for ten seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football in Division I-AA for the Appalachian State Mountaineers, and was selected in the third round of the 1997 NFL draft by the Dallas Cowboys. Coakley was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2011, making him Appalachian State's first inductee.
Melissa Morrison-Howard is an American hurdler best known for winning two Olympic bronze medals. She also won the bronze medal at the 2003 World Indoor Championships as well as one national indoor championships. From 1992 to 1993, the Southern Conference's indoor and outdoor championships voted her as The Most Valuable Performer. As of 2020, she is considered one of the top 6 US scorers of all time for the 100-meter hurdles.
Norma Croker Fleming was an Australian sprinter.
Lance Earl Deal is a former American athlete who won a silver medal in the hammer throw in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. He also competed in the 1988, 1992, and 2000 Summer Olympics.
Benjamin Lee "Ben" Peterson is a retired American freestyle wrestler. He competed at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics and won a gold and a silver medal, respectively. As a college wrestler, Peterson was a two-time NCAA champion at Iowa State. He founded the "Camp of Champs," which brought in Olympic wrestlers to train with high schoolers. Peterson also coached wrestling at Maranatha Baptist University for 28 years.
Gerald Hundley Moore is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at North Texas State University—now the University of North Texas—from 1979 to 1980, at Texas Tech University from 1981 to 1985, and at Appalachian State University from 1989 to 2012, compiling a career college football coaching record of 242–134–2. In his 24 years at Appalachian State, Moore posted a losing season only once. He led his 2005 Mountaineers team to the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship. This was the first national championship for any college football team in the state of North Carolina. Moore and the Mountaineers repeated as champions in 2006 and 2007, achieving the first "three-peat" in NCAA Division I FCS/I-AA history. Moore was forced out as head coach at the conclusion of the 2012 season. He was selected for inclusion into the Southern Conference Hall of Fame, and College Football Hall of Fame in 2014.
Kevin Andre Jackson is an American retired freestyle and folkstyle wrestler, and mixed martial artist. Following his competitive career, Jackson would become a wrestling coach.
The Appalachian State Mountaineers are the athletic teams that represent Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, United States. The Mountaineers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and were a member of the Southern Conference (SoCon) between 1972 and 2014. On July 1, 2014, Appalachian State moved to the Sun Belt Conference. Appalachian State fields varsity teams in 17 sports, 7 for men and 10 for women. The football team competes in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly I-A, as a result of the transition to the Sun Belt. The wrestling team remains in the Southern Conference because the Sun Belt does not sponsor the sport. In field hockey, another sport not sponsored by the Sun Belt, Appalachian State joined the Mid-American Conference for the 2017 season after playing two seasons as an independent following the demise of its former league, the Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference (NorPac). While rivalries exist with Sun Belt west division schools such as Troy and Louisiana, Appalachian State's main Sun Belt rivals are east division members Coastal Carolina and Georgia Southern, as well as rekindled rivalries from the days in FCS with recent Sun Belt additions Marshall and James Madison. Historically prior to joining the Sun Belt, Western Carolina and Furman were prominent rivalries.
The Appalachian State Mountaineers football team is the intercollegiate American football team representing Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. The Mountaineers have competed in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and the Sun Belt Conference since 2014. Appalachian plays its home games in Kidd Brewer Stadium, named after former head coach Kidd Brewer, whose 1937 squad was unbeaten and unscored upon during the regular season, outscoring opponents 206–0.
Jacob Stephen "Jake" Varner is an American wrestler. Varner won the gold medal in the 96 kg category at the 2012 Summer Olympics in freestyle wrestling.
Myron Willis Roderick was an American wrestler, college coach, and college athletics administrator. As a wrestler in college, he was a three-time All-American and two-time NCAA Wrestling national champion. He competed at the 1956 Summer Olympics in freestyle wrestling. As a wrestling coach at Oklahoma State, Roderick introduced recruiting on a major scale in the sport of wrestling. Oklahoma State would win seven team NCAA Championships while he was head coach. Roderick also established the foundation of what is now USA Wrestling.
Donald Ray "Don" Behm is an American wrestler and coach. He was Olympic silver medalist in freestyle wrestling in 1968.
Isaac "Ike" Anderson is an American former Greco-Roman wrestler who competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics at 62 kg. He was also a former Greco-Roman developmental coach for USA Wrestling. In 2024, he was honored with the Lifetime Service to Wresting Award for the South Carolina Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Hugo Otopalik was an American football player, wrestler, coach, and athletic director primarily at Iowa State University. He was the architect of the first NCAA Championships in both the sport of wrestling and golf.
Lou Rosselli is an American former wrestler. He competed in the men's freestyle 52 kg at the 1996 Summer Olympics. From 2016 to 2023 he was the head wrestling coach at the University of Oklahoma. Before his time with the Sooners, Rosselli was an associate head coach at Ohio State University.
