Henson, Gonzales, Bettucci, Johnson elected to Hall of Fame
By National Wrestling Hall of Fame STILLWATER, Okla. – The National Wrestling Hall of Fame has selected its honorees to be inducted into the Hall of Fame on June 5-6, 2015, in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Distinguished Members selected for the Class of 2015 include Frank Bettucci, Joe Gonzales, Sammie Henson, and Greg Johnson. The other recipients are Outstanding American Mike Golic, Order of Merit recipient Dr. David “Doc” Bennett, Medal of Courage recipient Mike Powell, and Lifetime Achievement for an Official Kenny Ritchie.
Bettucci was a three-time EIWA champion and the 1953
NCAA Champion for Cornell University. He also saw success in freestyle as a two-time AAU National Champion, member of the 1956 Olympic team, and alternate to the 1960 Olympic team. He is a member of the New York State Wrestling Hall of Fame, Cornell University Athletic Hall of Fame and Eastern Intercollegiate Hall of Fame. Gonzales competed for East Los Angeles College, Oklahoma University, and Cal State-Bakersfield, earning a California Junior College state title, NCAA DII title and NCAA DI title.He has set and currently holds the single season NCAA record of 528 take- downs. He is a five-time U.S. World Team member, five-time U.S. Open Freestyle champion, three-time World Cup champi- on, and a 1982 World Games bronze medalist. Henson competed for both Clemson and Missouri and was a two-time NCAA champion. Internationally, he was a Junior World Greco-Roman champion, Senior World Freestyle champi- on, Senior World Freestyle bronze medalist and Olympic Freestyle silver medalist. As a coach, Henson has assisted numerous top college programs. He was hired as the head coach at West Virginia University in 2014.
Johnson amassed a record of 58-3-2 and was a three-time
Big Ten Champion for Michigan State University. He was the first wrestler to win three NCAA titles in Big Ten Conference his- tory. His coaching career included positions at Clarion State,
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MMA and found success in that sport as well. I fell in love with martial arts as a whole. The same things I loved about wrestling were what I loved about MMA.
I know looking back it was a risky proposition to leave a sport I had so much success in and try something entirely different. I had no idea what to do or where to start, so I took principles from wrestling and was able to apply them to MMA. I found coaches and training partners. I knew how to train and how to compete. I focused on the commonalties of the two sports and I took the same process I used to learn wrestling and applied it to learning MMA.
I am blessed to be involved in the great sport of wrestling. I have learned so much at all levels of my career in wrestling. I have taken all of the other lessons I have learned through wrestling and applied them to other areas of my life and my businesses. Now it’s time to take the lessons I successfully used in MMA, business and apply them to growing the audience of Greco- Roman in the U.S.
University of Utah, University of Illinois and Alfred State Junior
College.At the University of Illinois he coached Kevin Puebla to All America honors in1979. He was a charter member of the Michigan Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1978 and a member of the Michigan State University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014. The Hall of Outstanding Americans recognizes those who have used the disciplines of the sport to launch notable careers in other walks of life, such as science and technology, business and industry, government and the military, and the arts and humanities.
Golic is the co-host of ESPN Radio’s Mike and Mike show. He is a former NFL defensive lineman. Golic wrestled and played football for Notre Dame. He used his ESPN platform to show his support for wrestling when it was threatened to be removed from the Olympic program. For the past 45 years, Bennett has been contributing to the advancement of wrestling through work in coaches education, videography, and coaching. Bennett served as the National Developmental Freestyle Coach from 2000-2009. Powell served as the head coach at Oak Park and River Forest High School in Illinois for a decade. During that time, he led the team to two dual team state championships, one dual team second place finish, a total of six appearances in the dual team state finals tournament, and top team scores at the indi- vidual state wrestling tournament four times. A 1994 Illinois state wrestling champion and All-American at Indiana University, Powell was diagnosed with polymyositis in 2009. Although he has recently stepped down as the head coach in order to rest his body, he plans to remain involved as an assistant. Ritchie has officiated 27 High School State Wrestling
Tournaments in Oklahoma while receiving Oklahoma HS Official of Year awards nine times. As a collegiate official, Ritchie has officiated 12 NCAA DI National Championships, eight NCAA DII National Championships and eight NCAA/NWCA National Dual Tournaments.
Trying something new often encounters resistance and critics. Many leaders wait too long to take action out of fear. There is nothing to fear if we don’t find a way to grow and promote Greco-Roman. We are only guaranteed to be in the Olympics through 2024.
I see this as an urgent situation. It doesn’t make any sense not to try and do something new. Greco-Roman in the U.S. can no longer follow the path of folkstyle or freestyle. We need to carve our own path. I understand we will face criticism. Obstacles in our new path need to be faced and overcome. Those at the bottom who dare to promote and rise up will be seen as self-serving, while those at the top who practice the same strategies will be seen as cre- ative and resourceful.
Look for Greco-Roman to make some changes, starting with the new trial procedure that the Greco-Roman sport committee just approved.
I am excited to be working together with such a bold group of men who are not afraid to take risks and look for opportunities to grow and promote our great sport.
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