National Wrestling Hall of Fame Honors Weekend concludes with moving induction of the Class of 2017

The National Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of 2017: Front row (left to right), Daton Fix, Mike Hagerty, Tony Gizoni, Tom Green, Cierra Foster. Back row (left to right) Greg Hatcher, Cary Kolat, Dom Gorie, Andre Metzger, Chuck Yagla. Photo by Larry Slater.


STILLWATER, Okla. – The 41st Honors Weekend of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame is in the history books, as the Class of 2017 honorees were inducted during the banquet and induction ceremony at the OSU Student Union Ballroom on Saturday night. It was a fitting conclusion to full schedule of activities celebrating the greats of wrestling and sharing the history and the legacy of the sport with those who attended.


Four new Distinguished Members were added to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, joining other legends in American wrestling history in its revered shrine.


Two-time World medalist and 2000 Olympian Cary Kolat was very appreciative of an honor he had not even considered when he put together an exceptional wrestling career at all levels of the sport.


“As an athlete, when I started my career, you set out to achieve individually. The Hall of Fame is not something that I thought about during my competitive years. Now that it is here, I am thankful for those who nominated me and voted me in. This event has been unbelievable. I have tried to soak it in. I will probably never get a moment like this again. Coming in contact with people I have not seen in 10 or 15 years has been great,” said Kolat.


He was considered one of the greatest high school wrestlers ever as a four-time undefeated Pennsylvania state champion who won the Outstanding Wrestler at the state meet all four years he competed. He was already competing on the Senior level in freestyle and beating top college stars at the Midlands while still enrolled at Jefferson Morgan High School.


Kolat went on to be a four-time All-American in college, a two-time NCAA champion for Lock Haven and a two-time All-American at the start of his collegiate career for Penn State. He won a World silver medal in 1997 and a World bronze medal in 1998. His 2000 Olympic experience was controversial, after winning his opening bout but then losing a re-wrestled match to the same opponent after a protest. Kolat has continued to impact wrestling as a coach, taking a number of assistant jobs at the Div. I level, before becoming the head coach of the rising program at Campbell University.


Three-time World medalist Andre Metzger, who revolutionized wrestling technique and tactics with his wide-open inventive style, talked about his recent return to wrestling after many years away, and his passion for the sport.


“I am honored to be here with the Class of 2017. The bottom line is that there are so many people who have helped me to get here. It has been very difficult for me. This is a sport that I really, really love. This is a sport that I had to step away from for a very long time. That long time that I was away, I learned so much about myself, my family and about other people. I started to understand the importance of wrestling,” said Metzger.


Metzger was known for wrestling in competition anywhere against anybody. A five-time Junior Nationals champion, he lived and trained in Japan while still in high school. Metzger went to the University of Oklahoma, where he won two NCAA titles and garned four All-American honors. He won Senior national titles in both freestyle and Greco-Roman during his career. Metzger won a 1986 World silver medal, and World bronze medals in 1979 and 1987, also adding two Pan American Games gold medals. He has also had a major impact on wrestling as a coach, working at the college and youth levels.


It was a second induction ceremony for 1980 Olympian Chuck Yagla, who initially went into the Hall of Fame as a Meritorious Official in 2009, and is now enshrined as a Distinguished Member.


“It is a great honor to join this club. There are a lot of those people in this room, the John Smiths and the Dan Gables. There are a lot of great people in this exclusive club, and I am finally in it,” said Yagla. “People asked me what changed from high school to college. What was the difference? You were second in the state, but then you win two national titles. I tell them there were two words, Dan Gable. I want to thank the Hawkeye Wrestling Club. That was when the Hawkeye Wrestling Club got started when Dan Gable came. We had guys just flock to Iowa City because they wanted to be around Dan Gable. These guys were post-college guys who were trying to make World and Olympic teams. By the time we got done with a week’s worth of practice and got to have a college match on Saturday, it was a relief, because college guys were much easier than the guys we wrestled in the room.”


A state runner-up from Waterloo, Iowa, Yagla went to the University of Iowa, where he helped coaches Gary Kurdelmeier and Dan Gable establish a dynasty. Yagla won two NCAA titles and three-time All-American for the Hawkeyes. He defeated the legendary Lee Kemp of Wisconsin in overtime in the NCAA finals, and Kemp went on to win three NCAA titles himself. Yagla became a top freestyle star, winning four Senior national titles. He qualified for the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team but did not compete because of the U.S. government boycott of the Moscow Games. He also was an assistant coach at his alma mater. Yagla remained in wrestling as a top college wrestling referee, officiating a dozen NCAA Div. I Championships and most of the major events on the collegiate calendar.


87-year-old Tony Gizoni, a two-time NCAA champion and a legend in Pennsylvania, who was voted in through the Veterans Committee, charmed everybody as he accepted his induction as a Distinguished Member.


“It is a wonderful time for my life, probably the most wonderful thing to ever happen to me. Of course, I won the nationals once or twice, and that was great, too. I am doing all right. I am getting up there. I am 87. I don’t know how much longer I’ve got. It has been a great time and I am very happy about it. Thank you,” he said.


Gizoni won three Pennsylvania state high school titles for Washington High, then went to Waynesburg University, where he added two NCAA titles. Gizoni was named Outstanding Wrestler at the NCAA Championships in 1951. He was ruled ineligible by the NCAA to compete as a senior due to competing in non-approved events, which denied him a chance at a third national title. Over his final five years of high school and college wrestling, Gizoni won 120 matches without a loss.


Astronaut Dom Gorie, who logged 49 days in space over four NASA space shuttle missions, received the Outstanding American honor for his achievements off the mat. A Florida high school wrestler and a U.S. Naval Academy college wrestler, he had over 600 carrier landings as a Navy fighter jet pilot before being recruited into NASA’s space program.


He compared the intense experience of docking his space ship with the international space station, and all of the requirements it took to get that done, with being a wrestler.


“It is just an amazing experience. And I look back on that and I think, the approach to that, how you handle that, is just like wrestling. You don’t have to be perfect, but you have got to be pretty close. You have to be really well prepared and the whole team has to be behind you. That is what I tried to get across to a young girl in fifth grade who asked what prepared you to do all of this, and it was wrestling. This is the face of wrestling. I am appreciative of all of you who made it possible for me to take a couple of cool business trips,” said Gorie.


Greg Hatcher, who received the Order of Merit for starting 65 high school programs in Arkansas and getting 10 college wrestling teams created, found a way to give back to a sport which he believes makes a difference in society.


“I thank all of you for making wrestling possible across the country. It just builds better people. They are tougher, they are more competitive and they are grinders. They wrestle through it and are the kind of people you want to hire,” said Hatcher.


Hatcher, who wrestled for Alma College in Michigan, was a huge success in the insurance business. He brought four-time NCAA champion Pat Smith of Oklahoma State to Arkansas, and they worked together with other leaders to develop wrestling in the state and work with the young athletes in the sport. Hatcher offers to purchase a mat for a new program and provide additional assistance, and has been very successful in getting others excited about wrestling, especially those who are the major decision makers on a campus.


The Medal of Courage recipient Tom Green had a workplace accident that blinded and burned his face badly, and he battled back not only to regain his sight but also be become a leader in his community. He has endured 40 surgeries along the way. Green is head coach at Port Byron Central School District in New York, and has built a strong wrestling community in the small town.


Mike Hagerty is a familiar face in college wrestling, as one of the best referees in the nation. A lifelong leader within the sport, Hagerty is being recognized as the Meritorious Official recipient. He has worked the Div. I Nationals since 2003, and also many other major college events for years. A former college coach, he is now one of the nation’s best high school coaches at Blue Springs High School in Missouri.


Four-time Oklahoma state champion Daton Fix was presented with the Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award. The Oklahoma State signee is also one of the best young freestyle wrestlers in the world, with both Cadet and Junior World medals in his trophy case.


Oklahoma City signee Cierra Foster of Idaho received the Tricia Saunders High School Excellence Award. She placed third in the state competing against boys as a freshman, and has been a national folkstyle and freestyle champion within USA Wrestling’s age-group women’s program.