In the first 22 NCAA tournaments, the team championship escaped from the states of Oklahoma and Iowa only once, when Billy Thom coached the Indiana Hoosiers to the trophy in 1932.

Thom was one of wrestling's true pioneers. A halfback on Iowa's 1922 national champion football team, he starred in basketball and track, but learned wrestling from the Farmer Burns correspondence course.

In four years as a high school coach at Wabash, Indiana, his wrestlers were undefeated in dual meets and placed third, second and first twice in state tournaments.

In 1928, Thom launched an 18-year wrestling and football coaching career at Indiana, where his teams posted a dual meet record of 110-21-3, including seven undefeated seasons and a streak of 45 consecutive wins. His Hoosiers won eight team trophies and 35 individual titles in the Big Ten, and 13 of his wrestlers won 15 NCAA and NAAU championships.

Hall of Famer Dick Voliva captured both titles, and a silver medal for the 1936 Olympic team coached by Thom. Edwin Belshaw was NCAA champion, outstanding wrestler and ringleader of the '32 Hoosiers. Another star was heavyweight Charlie McDaniel, who won the NCAA as a freshman in 1935 and again as a senior. McDaniel was another of Thom's five Olympians.

"I like a clean-cut boy," the coach said. "Give me the good ol' country boy and I'll make a wrestler out of him ... the good Lord willing."

Thom augmented his Depression-era income by competing in professional wrestling. He was unbeaten at 150 pounds and once held world titles in three weight divisions at the same time. He always wore long, bright red tights in the ring. A horse breeder and dog breeder, Thom was honored for his work with leader dogs for the blind.

For what he achieved in the sport of wrestling, and for what he taught young men about life, William H. "Billy" Thom is honored as a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.