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| Birth name | Wayne Turner Wells | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | September 29, 1946 (age 77) Abilene, Texas, U.S. [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home town | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Wayne Turner Wells (born September 29, 1946) 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. [2] In 1982, Wells was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member.
While wrestling at the University of Oklahoma, Wayne was a three-time Big Eight champion and a three-time All-American. He was an NCAA runner-up as a junior, he won the NCAA national championship the following year as a senior.
Wells placed fourth at the 1968 Olympic Games. While turning his attention to law school and the foundation of his professional career, Wayne intensified his wrestling efforts. He captured the silver medal at the 1969 World Championships, then returned a year later to win gold at the 1970 World Championships. He won two national freestyle titles and placed second in the Pan American Games. In the months leading up to the 1972 Olympics, he completed his final year of law school, passed the state bar exam, assisted the OU coaching staff, and trained five hours a day. At the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, he earned a gold medal in freestyle wrestling in the welterweight class. [3] Wells is also noted for being the first ever Nike signature athlete. [4]
In 1982, Wells was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member. [5]
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.
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.
Kenny Dale Monday is an Olympic gold medalist and three-time All-American wrestler from Oklahoma State University. He began wrestling at age six at a YMCA after-school program and grew up idolizing Olympic wrestler Wayne Wells. Monday is a three-time Olympian.
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.
Kerry R. McCoy is an American wrestler and coach. 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.
Stanley Joseph Dziedzic, Jr. is an American former welterweight freestyle wrestler.
Kendall Duane Cross is an American freestyle wrestler, wrestling coach and Olympic gold medalist. He won the gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, where he wrestled in the 57 kilogram weight class. He defeated Guivi Sissaouri of Canada 5–3 in the final match. Cross also competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics where he placed sixth. He had defeated the eventual winner and the two-time world champion Alejandro Puerto of Cuba in a previous tournament but lost 10–6 in round six of the elimination rounds.
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. 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 program of all time in any sport. As of 2021–2022, Oklahoma State wrestling has won 34 team national championships, 143 individual NCAA championships, and 485 All-American honors.
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.
Peter Joseph Mehringer was an Olympic gold medal-winning freestyle wrestler from Kinsley, Kansas. Mehringer was nicknamed the "Kansas Whirlwind".
Barry Alan Davis is an Olympic silver medalist, a World bronze and silver medalist, and a Pan American Games gold medalist in freestyle wrestling. From 1994 until 2018, he served as head wrestling coach at the University of Wisconsin.
Jack Francis "Blackjack" VanBebber was an American wrestler and Olympic gold medalist at the 1932 Olympic Games in freestyle wrestling.
Wayne Baughman was an American wrestler, coach and ultra-endurance athlete. He competed in the 1964 Summer Olympics, the 1968 Summer Olympics, and the 1972 Summer Olympics.
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.
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.
Porter Glen "Port" Robertson was a former amateur freestyle wrestler and successful collegiate and Olympic wrestling coach. Robertson led the University of Oklahoma wrestling team to three NCAA wrestling championships in the 1950s and coached the United States freestyle wrestling team to three gold medals in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy.
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