For 40 years, and more than 600 dual meets, Wally Johnson instilled the American work ethic into his wrestlers, and both he and his teams realized the fruits of success.

Throughout his career he was a man of foresight, a builder. He founded wrestling programs at Luther College in Iowa and across the state of South Dakota. He launched kids wrestling in Minnesota, and was one of the founding fathers of USA Wrestling, serving as its first president and guiding it over the rocky path of its formative years.

In 34 years of coaching at the University of Minnesota, Johnson amassed 388 victories with the Golden Gophers. Adding five years at Luther and South Dakota, his career total swells to 427 victories and an astonishing 67 per cent. He also coached football and track at South Dakota and football at Minnesota.

He was a multi-sport athlete for the Gophers, captain of the wrestling team, member of an national champion football team and twice the school's middleweight boxing champion. He had no opportunity to wrestle in high school, because the state did not adopt the sport until the year after his graduation in 1937. But once a state program was developed, he helped refine it and established its team format. For years, he offered free clinics to Minnesota youngsters, bringing in top instructors nationwide.

He contributed immensely to the growth of Greco-Roman wrestling by opening the doors of his wrestling room to the Minnesota Wrestling Club, helping it develop into the country's strongest Greco-Roman power.

His coaching produced two Big Ten champion teams, 35 individual titlists, four NCAA champs and more than 40 All-Americans. A more impressive statistic was the 99 per cent graduation rate of his lettermen, the result of his adamant stand that academics always outrank athletics.

For a lifetime of leadership, and dedication to the well being of athletes of all ages, Wallace Theodore Johnson is honored as a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.