Hall of Fame
Dick Wilson came to Toledo from Washington, Pennsylvania, and compiled one of the best wrestling records not only at Toledo but in the world. He won Mid-American Conference Championships three straight years - as a 123 pounder in 1959, a 130 pounder in 1960 when his dual meet record was 10-0 with eight pins and again as a 123 pounder in 1961. In the duration of those seasons, Dick was a three-time NCAA Championship runner-up and three-time All-American. Dick Wilson was a six-time national AAU champion, winning both the Greco-Roman and freestyle titles in 1959 and 1961 and Greco-Roman titles in 1957-58. He won the freestyle gold medal in the PAN American Games championship in 1959 and dominated the Olympic Trials (winning the Greco-Roman in 1956, 60' and 64' and freestyle in 1960) to become a member of the United States Olympic Team, three times, in 1956, 1960, and again in 1964. He was captain of the 1960 and 1964 Olympic teams and finished in the top six wrestlers in the world in his weight class. Dick was also captain of the United States World Cup wrestling team in 1961 and 1962.
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The Toledo Times voted him the city's Outstanding Athlete of the Year Award in 1959. Dick was a member of the Campus Blue Key Honor Society while at UT undergraduate, earning his Bachelor's, Masters, and Education specialist degrees from The University of Toledo. He returned to Toledo as a head wrestling coach in 1967 and coached the Rockets to one Mid-American Championship, three second place finishes, and one third. Dick made history by serving as a director and organizer of the group that founded the World Cup of International Wrestling in Toledo in 1973. Dick left UT in 1974 to become a public school administrator, which he did until his retirement in 1993. In 2016 he was inducted as a distinguished member into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in Stillwater, Oklahoma.Â
