Tom Nicholls is recognized for his years of dedication as a coach, to the development of leadership and citizenship in young people through the sport of wrestling. Coached 27 years - Dual meet record: 223-123-6 Nicholls graduated from Denver North high school in 1944 and Colorado State College (now the University of Northern Colorado) with his degree in education in 1949. He received his masters in administration in 1958 from the University of Colorado. Nicholls became a fixture at Arvada high school where he taught physical education, math and history and coached wrestling, track, football and baseball. He was the head wrestling coach from 1950-1977 winning the state championship in 1953. During his tenure his teams also won 17 league and district championships. He produced 67 individual district champions, 11 individual state champions and 20 other place winners in the state tournaments. Fourteen of his students wrestled in college with two winning national titles. He also served as a volunteer coach at the Colorado School of Mines. Nicholls was the co-coach of the North team in the first All-Star dual meet sponsored by the Colorado Coaches Association at Mesa College in 1976. Tom Nicholls continued...He spent many hours working in the development of summer wrestling programs and served as the wrestling chairman for the Rocky Mountain Association of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) from 1975-1986. He also was the President of the Rocky Mountain AAU from 1982-1986. He helped prepare teams for international competition in Mexico and Turkey (1975), Sweden (1976), Germany and Japan (1977), Poland (1978), Greece and Germany (1979), Austria (1981) and Japan (1982 and 1984). He was President of the Colorado Wrestling Coaches Association in 1957.Nicholls was involved with the initial Colorado/Japan Wrestling Exchange in 1962 and worked with the committee sending high school teams to Japan from 1963-1972 and went on to coach the team in 1974. He was inducted into the Jefferson County Athletes Hall of Fame in 1987 and the University of Northern Colorado Alumnae Hall of Fame in 1989.Tom Nicholls has given a lifetime of service to the youth of America through his dedication to the sport of wrestling as a coach, mentor and role model.