Les Gutches

Last updated
Les Gutches
Personal information
Full nameLeslie Lyle Gutches
Born (1973-02-21) February 21, 1973 (age 50)
Medford, Oregon, U.S.
Medal record
Men’s freestyle wrestling
Representing the Flag of the United States.svg  United States
World Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1997 Krasnoyarsk 85 kg
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 1999 Ankara 85 kg
World Cup
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg1999 Spokane85 kg
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg2000 Fairfax85 kg
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg1998 Stillwater85 kg
Goodwill Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1998 New York 85 kg
Pan American Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1999 Winnipeg 85 kg
Pan American Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg1993 Guatemala City82 kg
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg1994 Mexico City82 kg
Collegiate Wrestling
Representing the Oregon State Beavers
NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg1995 Iowa City177 lb
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg1996 Minneapolis177 lb

Leslie Lyle Gutches (born February 21, 1973) is an American former wrestler and coach. His accomplishments include becoming a World Champion in freestyle wrestling at the 1997 World Wrestling Championships, [1] 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.

Contents

Youth

Gutches grew up in a family of wrestlers with his father Les Senior, a retired Fire Captain, being the first Gutches state champion. Les's siblings are Jason, a chiropractor [2] and Chad, a home builder. Les Gutches grew up in Southern Oregon and has the unique distinction of winning national championships in all of the wrestling age groups, including three state titles while a student at South Medford High School. [3]

College

Considered the university's best wrestler in modern history with a 134–10 record, [4] Gutches had a tremendous collegiate wrestling career as a four-year letterman [4] of the Oregon State Beavers wrestling team, culminating in winning the Dan Hodge Trophy as the best college wrestler in the United States in 1996. He placed 5th at the NCAA championships in 1994, and went on to win the title in both 1995 and 1996, with both championship years him going undefeated. [3] This earned him All-American status each of the three years, which is awarded to the top 8 athletes in each weight class every year.

He graduated from Oregon State University with a Bachelor's degree in Physical Anthropology and a minor in German Language in 1996. Some years later he completed requirements for the bachelor's degree in German Literature, and in 2006 graduated with a Master's degree in Business Administration and was a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society. He was also a three-time NCAA First-Team Academic All-American as an undergraduate. [5]

International

Gutches achieved his greatest accomplishment in 1997, when he won the gold medal in freestyle Wrestling at the 32nd FILA Wrestling World Championships, against Ukrainian Eldar Assanov in Krasnoyarsk. [1] Gutches again was a World medalist again in 1999, when he won the bronze.

Other gold medal first-place finishes at international competitions were at the 1999 FILA Wrestling World Cup, the 1999 Pan American Games and the 1998 Goodwill Games. [3]

Gutches was also a member of the U.S. freestyle wrestling 1996 Olympic team.

Coaching

Gutches was a full-time assistant coach at Oregon State from 1996 to 1999, a volunteer coach in 2001, and again a full-time assistant coach in 2002–2006, coaching five wrestlers to All-American honors. [6]

He was also an assistant coach for the United States National Team at the 2002 Freestyle World Cup, his team winning the title that year. [7]

Personal

In January 2010, it was announced that Gutches had been named the Director of Program Development for USA Wrestling. [8] He was promoted to Associate Executive Director for Programs and Strategy in October 2012. [5] Previously, he worked as a Commercial Loan Officer at Citizens Bank for four years, and lived in the Corvallis, Oregon region with his wife, the former Jennifer Busen, who played basketball at Oregon State. They presently live in Colorado Springs, Colorado with their daughter Alexis and son Logan. Gutches is one of the three founders of G3 Sports Performance Center in Corvallis, Oregon. [9]

Accomplishments

Gutches has won numerous wrestling tournaments, awards and honors, including:

Hall of Fame inductions

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan Gable</span> American wrestler and coach

Danny Mack Gable is an American former folkstyle and freestyle wrestler and coach. Considered to be one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, Gable is a two-time NCAA Division I national champion, a world gold medalist, and an Olympic gold medalist. Gable was only the third wrestler to be inducted into the United World Wrestling's Hall of Fame in the Legend category. In 2014, Gable was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame and on December 8, 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump awarded Gable with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freestyle wrestling</span> Style of Wrestling

Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling. Along with Greco-Roman, it is one of the two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games. USA high school wrestling and men's collegiate wrestling are conducted under different rules and termed scholastic and collegiate wrestling. USA collegiate women's wrestling is conducted under freestyle rules.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Schultz (amateur wrestler)</span> American wrestler (1959–1996)

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.

Steve Mocco is an American former amateur wrestler, judoka and mixed martial artist. As a collegiate wrestler, he was a two-time NCAA national champion, four-time finalist, and was awarded the Dan Hodge Trophy. In freestyle, he represented the US at the Olympics and was a three-time Pan American Champion. As an MMA fighter, he most notably competed at the WSOF. He is currently a coach at both combat sports, being one of the main coaches at MMA powerhouse American Top Team and an assistant wrestling coach at Lehigh University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oregon State Beavers</span> Intercollegiate sports teams of Oregon State University

The Oregon State Beavers are the athletic teams that represent Oregon State University, located in Corvallis, Oregon. The Beavers compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac-12 Conference. Oregon State's mascot is Benny the Beaver. Both the men's and women's teams share the name, competing in 7 NCAA Division I men's sports and 9 NCAA Division I women's sports respectively. The official colors for the athletics department are Beaver Orange, black, and white.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Lindland</span> American mixed martial artist, Olympic wrestler and political candidate

Matthew James Lindland, also known as The Law, is an American retired mixed martial artist, Olympic wrestler, speaker, actor, coach, entrepreneur and politician. He won the Oregon Republican Party's nomination for the Oregon House of Representatives, District 52 seat on May 20, 2008. He also started an apparel company named Dirty Boxer. In mixed martial arts, Lindland competed primarily in the Middleweight division for the UFC, Strikeforce. Affliction, the IFL, Cage Rage, the WFA, and BodogFIGHT.

Larry Lee "Zeke" Jones is an American wrestler who won a silver medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, a world championship in Varna, Bulgaria, in 1991, and was the former freestyle head coach at USA Wrestling. He is currently the head coach of the Arizona State University Wrestling team as of April, 2014. He was a six-time national freestyle champion, four-time World Cup champion, Pan American Games champion, and received the "World's Most Technical Wrestler Award" awarded by FILA, the international governing body for the sport. In college, he was a three-time All-American for Arizona State University and competed on the 1988 NCAA Championship team, coached by famed Bobby Douglas. After college, he wrestled on two world championships teams with the United States wrestling team. In 2005, he was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member.

The Oregon State Beavers wrestling program was established in 1909, competing in collegiate wrestling across 95 seasons since then. Traditionally a national powerhouse, the Beavers won the Amateur Athletic Union national championship in 1926 and have won their conference championship 52 times. The team has produced 99 All-Americans, 12 individual national champions, and is associated with five National Wrestling Hall of Fame members. The team has finished their season ranked in the NCAA top 25 on 43 occasions, including finishing 20 seasons in the top 10 and two seasons as national runners-up.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Jackson</span> American wrestler and coach

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">USA Wrestling</span> Sports governing organization

USA Wrestling is the organization that currently governs freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling in the United States. USA Wrestling is also the official representative to the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and to United World Wrestling (UWW) and is considered the national governing body of the sport at the competitive level. Their mission statement is, "USA Wrestling, guided by the Olympic Spirit, provides quality opportunities for its members to achieve their full human and athletic potential."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of collegiate wrestling</span>

The history of collegiate wrestling can be traced to the many indigenous styles of folk wrestling found in Europe, particularly in Great Britain. Those folk wrestling styles soon gained popularity in what would become the United States, and by the mid-to-late 19th century those styles, especially freestyle wrestling, emerged in gymnasiums and athletic clubs throughout the country. From then on, tournaments were sponsored and a professional circuit of wrestlers helped promote wrestling in the United States and throughout the world.

LeRoy Gardner III was an American amateur wrestler.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leroy Kemp</span> American freestyle wrestler

Leroy (Lee) P. Kemp, Jr. is a former American freestyle and folkstyle wrestler. Kemp would achieve success at the high school, collegiate, and international levels.

William Michael Zadick is an American amateur wrestler. He won an NCAA college wrestling championship while competing with the University of Iowa and a gold medal at the 2006 World Wrestling Championships in freestyle wrestling.

The Cornell Big Red wrestling team represents Cornell University of Ithaca, New York in collegiate wrestling. It is one of the most successful and storied collegiate wrestling programs in the nation with over 20 individual NCAA champions, 42 Ivy League championships, and 27 Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association championships since the program's 1907 founding.

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.

Quincey Clark is a former competitor in Greco-Roman Wrestling, who represented the United States at the 2000 Summer Olympics. Clark also represented the U.S. at the 1998 and 1999 FILA World Wrestling Championships and the 1999 Pan American Games, where he won the silver medal. His highest placing in world-level competition was 8th, at the world championships in 1999. Clark was also an All-American in Collegiate Wrestling for the University of Oklahoma in 1995. He finished in 2nd place, behind future Freestyle Wrestling world champion, Les Gutches.

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.

Kyven Ross Gadson is an American amateur wrestler. Currently a senior competitor in amateur freestyle wrestling, earlier Gadson, while wrestling for the Iowa State Cyclones, was a three-time All-American in NCAA Division I collegiate wrestling and won the 2015 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in the 197-lb weight class by pinning future Olympic and World Championship gold medalist Kyle Snyder in his final collegiate match.

Joseph Marion "Joe" Corso is an American wrestler and coach. He competed in the men's freestyle 57 kg at the 1976 Summer Olympics, and was USA Women's Wrestling's first coach.

References

  1. 1 2 "All Guts, No Glory". CNN. 1997-11-03.
  2. "Home". Archived from the original on 2013-09-19. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
  3. 1 2 3 "Les Gutches to be inducted into Oregon Sports Hall of Fame - OWA Blog". www.wrestleoregon.com. Archived from the original on 2012-09-28.
  4. 1 2 3 "Oregon State University Sports Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on 2011-11-04. Retrieved 2021-11-09.
  5. 1 2 http://themat.com/section.php?section_id=3&page=showarticle&ArticleID=25649 [ dead link ]
  6. http://www.osubeavers.com/sports/m-wrestl/spec-rel/080311aaa.html [ dead link ]
  7. "Sports News - Oregon Stater - September 2002". Oregon State University. Archived from the original on 2006-08-31. Retrieved 2006-12-16.
  8. "Les Gutches named Director of Program Development for USA Wrestling | TheMat.com - USA Wrestling". www.themat.com. Archived from the original on 2011-02-07.
  9. "Courting fitness, skills at new gym".
  10. 1 2 3 4 http://www.osubeavers.com/sports/m-wrestl/spec-rel/061802aaa.html [ dead link ]
  11. "U.S. beats Russia 16-14, takes team gold: World champ Gutches defeats Olympic champ Khadzimurad". CNN: Sports Illustrated. 1998-07-26. Archived from the original on 2001-07-08. Retrieved 2021-11-09.
  12. http://www.osubeavers.com/sports/m-wrestl/spec-rel/022599aab.html [ dead link ]
  13. "Wrestling Hall of Fame | National Wrestling Hall of Fame".
  14. "Oregon Sports Hall of Fame". www.oregonsportshall.org. Archived from the original on 2012-05-21.
  15. "Article missed the point".
  16. "Article missed the point".