Bruce Baumgartner
American freestyle wrestler (born 1960)
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Bruce Robert Baumgartner (born November 2, 1960) is an American former freestyle wrestler. He is the current assistant vice president for university advancement and former athletic director at the Edinboro University of Pennsylvania near Erie, Pennsylvania and current President of USA Wrestling.
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Baumgartner is among the best American wrestlers of all time; his five World/Olympic titles place him behind only Jordan Burroughs, John Smith, and Adeline Gray.[1] Between 1983 and 1996, Baumgartner won 13 World or Olympic medals, the most World and Olympic medals among American wrestlers.[2] His 13 medals at the world level are tied for the most in men’s wrestling history, alongside Russian wrestler Aleksandr Karelin.[3]
Life and career
Baumgartner was born in Haledon, New Jersey. He is one of the most accomplished American wrestlers of all time, winning 4 Olympic medals (2-Gold, 1-Silver, 1-Bronze), 9 World Championship medals (3-Gold, 3-Silver, 3-Bronze) and 4 Pan-American medals (3-Gold, 1-Silver); he has also won 12 World Cup medals (7-Gold, 5-Silver), an NCAA title (and 2 Runner-Up finishes), 4 Olympic Festival titles, 2 AAU National titles and a Junior National title. Baumgartner holds the joint-record for most medals at the world-level in men's wrestling, with 13, which is tied with Russian wrestler Aleksandr Karelin.[3]
Baumgartner attended Manchester Regional High School in Haledon, New Jersey. During high school, Baumgartner excelled on the wrestling team, going 23–0, but was defeated in the New Jersey State Championship match. During the off-season he threw shot put and discus on the track team, setting several records in the shot put. Baumgartner is a four-time Olympian and owns four Olympic Medals: two gold, one silver and one bronze. He holds a Bachelor's degree in education from Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana, where he competed collegiately for 4 years. He frequently worked out alongside Kurt Thomas, an Olympic Gymnast. During his collegiate career he finished runner-up at Nationals his sophomore and junior years, and was the 1982 NCAA Division I National Champion his senior year, completing an undefeated season of 44–0. His collegiate record was 134–12 with 73 falls. In 1995, he was presented the James E. Sullivan Award by the Amateur Athletic Union as the outstanding amateur athlete in the U.S. He was sponsored through the New York Athletic Club.[4]
Baumgartner ranked as one of the top super-heavyweight freestyle wrestlers for more than a decade. He won his first World medal, a bronze, in 1983. The following year, he won an Olympic gold medal at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. He confirmed his status with the Communist Bloc (Eastern European) wrestlers by winning his first World Championship in 1986, clinching his first of his three World titles.
In his second Olympic final at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, he took silver, behind Georgian David Gobejishvili. Four years later, he won the rematch at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, en route to his second Olympic gold medal. After winning World titles in 1993 and 1995, Baumgartner was favored to win his third Olympic gold at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, but a loss to Russian Andrey Shumilin left him with a bronze medal.
Championships
In addition to his three World Championships and two Olympic gold medals, Baumgartner amassed three golds at the Pan American Games, seventeen American titles and eight World Cup wins. He also won an NCAA National Championship, had two NCAA Runner-Up finishes, two AAU National Titles, and a Junior National title.
In 1998, Baumgartner was inducted into the Indiana State University Athletic Hall of Fame; in 2003, the Missouri Valley Conference named him an 'Institutional Great' and inducted him into the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame.
In 2008, Baumgartner was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.[5] He was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member in 2002, and the International Wrestling Federation Hall of Fame in 2003.
