Perhaps no man has left his mark on wrestling in as many ways as Dale Thomas-as wrestler, coach, official, teacher and innovator. He was team captain at Cornell of Iowa in 1947, when it became the only private school to win National Collegiate and National AAU team titles. He went on to amass nine national championships in Freestyle and Greco-Roman competition.

He earned a place on the 1952 Olympic team by handing Henry Wittenberg his first defeat in more than 300 matches, but yielded the position to Wittenberg in the final trials in Helsinki. He returned to the Olympics in 1956, placing sixth in Greco-Roman at Melbourne.

In 34 years at Oregon State University, he recorded more victories than any other coach in collegiate history, 616 against 169 defeats and 12 ties. He coached 10 NCAA champions, 60 All-Americans, 21 national titlists in Freestyle and Greco-Roman, and six Olympians.

His Beavers were NCAA runners-up in 1973 and placed third or fourth five times. He was national coach of the year twice. But the only special award he offered to his collegiate wrestlers was compiled by blending their dual meet scores with their academic grade point averages.

He coached U. S. international teams in 1961, '66 and '70, and taught and studied wrestling around the world, from Yugoslavia to Canada to New Zealand, from South Africa to Mexico to southeast Asia.

As a top-ranked international referee, he served as an official in the 1960 and '64 Olympics, and in several world championships.

He inaugurated kids wrestling in Oregon in the 1950s, emphasizing fun and fundamentals, a concept that is the cornerstone of today's national kids programs. He founded state Freestyle and international cultural exchange programs for Oregon high school wrestlers.

For a lifetime of leadership in the development of wrestling, and his monumental impact on the sport, Dr. Dale O. Thomas is honored as a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.