Outstanding American: Terry Davis

Terry Davis is a celebrated author, former wrestler, and educator whose work has left a profound and lasting impact on generations of readers and athletes alike. A native of Spokane, Washington, Davis wrestled at Shadle Park High School before going on to teach and coach wrestling in his hometown, and for one year at the American School of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

He is best known for his 1979 novel Vision Quest, a coming-of-age story centered on high school wrestler Louden Swain, who sets out to challenge a state champion in pursuit of something meaningful. The novel was adapted into the acclaimed 1985 film starring Matthew Modine and has since become a touchstone of American sports literature. John Irving, a Hall of Fame Outstanding American and Davis’s mentor at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, called it “the truest novel about growing up since The Catcher in the Rye.”

Vision Quest was nominated for an American Book Award and earned multiple honors from the American Library Association and National Council of Teachers of English. It also helped introduce wrestling to new audiences, with the film promoting a USA Wrestling poster featuring 1984 Olympic medalists and Hall of Fame members.

Over the years, Vision Quest has become a cultural touchstone, not just within the wrestling community, but among readers of all ages seeking stories of identity, perseverance, and personal transformation. Countless wrestlers and coaches credit the book and film with sparking their love for the sport or helping them navigate their own “vision quests” through life’s challenges.

Davis’s other novels — Mysterious Ways and If Rock and Roll Were A Machine — also received critical acclaim and awards. He published fiction and nonfiction in Sports Illustrated, received the Governor’s Award for the Arts, and was a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. He taught creative writing for more than three decades at institutions including Eastern Washington University, Gonzaga University, East Carolina University, and Minnesota State, Mankato.

For his ability to capture the heart of wrestling and inspire countless young lives through storytelling, the National Wrestling Hall of Fame proudly honors Terry Davis as our 2025 Outstanding American.