The National Wrestling Hall of Fame on Thursday announced that its Class of 2025 is Distinguished Members Darryl Burley, Matt Lindland, Terry Steiner and Greg Wojciechowski, Meritorious Official honoree Ken Mara, Order of Merit Recipient Van Stokes, Medal of Courage recipient Mark Coleman and Outstanding American honoree Terry Davis.

“The National Wrestling Hall of Fame is pleased to announce our Class of 2025, a deserving group of individuals are being recognized because of the sustainable values they have contributed to wrestling,” said Lee Roy Smith, Executive Director of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. “Each of these leaders set the tone and modeled the rituals, skills and work ethic necessary to advance the culture of our great sport's heritage, both on and off the mat.”

The Hall of Fame’s Board of Governors approved the selections at their annual fall meeting on October 29.

The Class of 2025 will be honored and officially inducted during the 48th Honors Weekend on June 6 and 7, 2025 in Stillwater, Oklahoma. For more information on Honors Weekend, please telephone (405) 377-5243.

Lindland and Steiner were chosen as Distinguished Members for the Modern Era while Burley and Wojciechowski were selected by the Veterans Committee. The newest honorees will bring the number of Distinguished Members to 216, since the Hall of Fame began in 1976.

Steiner becomes the 18th Distinguished Member from the University of Iowa while Burley is the sixth from Lehigh University, Lindland is the fifth from the University of Nebraska and Wojciechowski is the second from the University of Toledo. Oklahoma State University has the most Distinguished Members with 38 while Iowa’s 18 is second followed by Iowa State University and the University of Oklahoma tied for third with 14 each.

Distinguished Members can be a wrestler who has achieved extraordinary success in national and/or international competition; a coach who has demonstrated great leadership in the profession and who has compiled an outstanding record; or a contributor whose long-term activities have substantially enhanced the development and advancement of the sport. Wrestlers must have been retired from active competition for a period of five years to be eligible for consideration as a Distinguished Member.

Darryl Burley was a two-time NCAA Division I national champion and a four-time NCAA finalist with a career record of 94-5-1 for Lehigh University. He won his titles at 134 pounds in 1979 and at 142 pounds in 1983 while finishing second in 1980 and 1981 at 134 pounds. Burley was a four-time Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association champion, and a two-time champion, six-time finalist and Outstanding Wrestler at the Midlands Tournament. He won a bronze medal at the prestigious Tbilisi tournament in 1985 after finishing second at the World Championship Trials in 1983 and third at the Olympic Trials in 1984. Burley won the United States National Open in 1985 after a runner-up finish in 1984. A three-time district champion and two-time regional champion for Pemberton High School in Pemberton, New Jersey. He won the New Jersey state championship and was named Outstanding Wrestler as a senior in 1979, meeting defending champion Peter Schuyler in the finals. Burley graduated from Lehigh University with a bachelor's degree in history in 1983 and a master's degree in history in 1985. He graduated with his juris doctorate from the Hofstra University School of Law in 1988. He is a member of the Roger S. Penske/Lehigh Athletics Hall of Fame and the South Jersey Wrestling Hall of Fame. He designed, developed and implemented vocational training and acute nursing skilled facilities geared towards individuals with developmental and medical disabilities. Burley has coached at wrestling clubs in Pennsylvania and New Jersey while also being a clinician at wrestling camps at all levels. He currently works as an assistant wrestling coach, alongside head coach and former Lehigh wrestler Solomon Fleckman, at the Cannon School in Concord, North Carolina.

Matt Lindland is an Olympic and World silver medalist in Greco-Roman and served as head coach of the United States Greco-Roman team from 2014 to 2022. He represented the United States in the first of four World Championships in 1997, finishing sixth in 1998 and earning his silver medal in 2001. He won a gold medal at the Pan Am Games in freestyle in 1994 and in Greco-Roman in 1999 and was a silver medalist in Greco-Roman at the Pan Am Championships in 1997 and 2000. He was named the USA Wrestling Athlete of the Year in 1999. He was a junior college national champion for Clackamas Community College in Oregon and a Big Eight Conference champion who helped the University of Nebraska win the Big Eight Conference team title. He helped Nebraska to a school-best third-place finish at the 1993 NCAA Championships, compiling a 36-1 record and an 11-0 dual mark. His 36 wins ranked in the Top 10 in single-season wins while his .973 winning percentage tied him for first on the all-time list with Bill Scherr, a Distinguished Member inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1998. Lindland's only loss came at the NCAA tournament and prevented him from being an All-American. He was a two-time place-winner at the Oregon state tournament for Gladstone High School in Gladstone, Oregon. After seeing his Team USA Greco-Roman teammate Randy Couture, who was honored as an Outstanding American by the Hall of Fame in 2018, fight in the UFC, Lindland fought "No Holds Barred" in 1997, but then put mixed martial arts on hold to accomplish his wrestling goals. After winning his Olympic silver medal, he returned to UFC in December of 2000. He had a professional record of 22-9 and competed in UFC, Strikeforce, Affliction, Bodog Fight, World Fighting Alliance and International Fight League. He is co-founder and owner of the world-famous Team Quest Fight Club while also being co-founder and promoter for SportFight, the premier professional mixed martial arts organization in the Pacific Northwest, and the head coach for the Portland Wolf Pack of the IFL. He was an assistant coach for Clackamas Community College, which won the National Junior College Athletic Association team title in 2011 and won the National Duals title and placed third at the NJCAA tournament with a record seven All-Americans in 2014. He was an assistant coach for Nebraska from 1996-2000 and coached NCAA champion Brad Vering and All-American Justin Ruiz, who both went on to be world medalists in Greco-Roman. He worked with Chael Sonnen at West Linn High School in Oregon before returning to Nebraska as an assistant coach. He is one of the founders of Team Quest MMA in Portland, Oregon. He founded the North West kids wrestling program and coached at two of the top wrestling clubs in the United States, Cobra Wrestling Club and Peninsula Wrestling Club in Portland, Oregon.

Terry Steiner has been the United States Women's National Coach since 2002. In six Olympics, he has coached four gold medalists, three silver medalists and six bronze medalists. In 17 World Championships, Steiner has coached 16 gold medalists, 17 silver medalists and 29 bronze medalists. He has coached five of the six women inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as Distinguished Members: Clarissa Chun (2022), Kristie Davis (2018), Sara McMann (2022), Patricia Miranda (2023) and Toccara Montgomery (2024). At the 2024 Paris Olympics, the U.S. had two gold medalists in the same year for the first time, and doubled the career Olympic gold medals for U.S. women's wrestling from two to four. The U.S. won four total medals in 2024 with gold medalists Amit Elor and Sarah Hildebrandt, silver medalist Kennedy Blades and bronze medalist Helen Maroulis. It tied the record for most medals at an Olympics set in 2020 with gold medalist Tamyra Mensah Stock, silver medalist Adeline Gray and bronze medalists Hildebrandt and Maroulis. Steiner coached the American women to a tie for first place at the 2003 World Championships with seven medals, setting the record for most medals won by a U.S. Senior Women's World Team. The record for most medals was tied in 2021, 2022 and 2023. In 2022 it included three gold medals, won by Elor, Dominique Parrish and Mensah Stock, which tied the record for most gold medals won by the U.S. women in a World Championship, set in 2019 when Gray, Mensah Stock and Jacarra Winchester stood atop the podium. He has also coached the U.S. women's team to four runner-up finishes and seven third-place finishes at the World Championships. Before joining USA Wrestling, Steiner was an assistant coach at Oregon State University and the University of Wisconsin. He was a national champion and the Outstanding Wrestler at the 1993 NCAA Division I Championships and a three-time All-American for the University of Iowa. Steiner was a two-time North Dakota state champion and three-time finalist who helped Century High School in Bismarck, North Dakota, win back-to-back state team titles. Steiner had a career prep record of 128-14, including 69 consecutive victories.

Greg Wojciechowski was an NCAA Division I champion and three-time NCAA finalist, competing when freshmen were not eligible, at heavyweight for the University of Toledo. By the age of 21 he had won an NCAA title, a freestyle national title and a Greco-Roman national title. Standing 6-foot tall and weighing approximately 250 pounds, Wojciechowski regularly gave up height and weight to his opponents, including 1972 NCAA champion and Hall of Fame Distinguished Member Chris Taylor, who was 6-foot-5 and weighed over 400 pounds throughout much of his wrestling career. Wojciechowski had a career college record of 55-2 with his only losses coming in the NCAA finals to Taylor and Oregon State’s Jess Lewis in 1970. A three-time Mid-American Conference champion, he wrestled at Toledo for Hall of Fame Distinguished Member Dick Wilson and was also coached by Distinguished Member Joe Scalzo and Meritorious Official honoree Dick Torio. Wojciechowski was the first alternate for the United States Greco Roman team in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics and the first alternate for both Greco-Roman and freestyle in the 1972 Munich Olympics and the 1976 Montreal Olympics. In the final Olympic tryouts in 1976, he was beaten by Hall of Fame Distinguished Member Jimmy Jackson, who was 6-foot-6 and 350 pounds, in freestyle and by Pete Lee, who was 6-foot-2 and 330 pounds, in Greco-Roman. In the 1980 Olympic tryout tournament, he beat Jackson in freestyle and Lee in Greco-Roman to become the last American to win both styles. The 29-year-old defeated 20-year-old Bruce Baumgartner in the final Olympic tryouts. Baumgartner, a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, would go on to win 13 Olympic and World medals during his career. Wojciechowski won the 1980 Olympic Trials in freestyle and Greco-Roman, the last American to win in both styles, but chose not to compete in wrestle-offs for Greco-Roman team. Wojciechowski was unable to compete in the 1980 Moscow Olympics because of the United States boycott. He was a 13-time AAU champion, winning eight freestyle titles and five Greco-Roman titles. Wojciechowski finished fourth in freestyle at the World Championships in 1970 and fifth in freestyle at the World Championships in 1978. He was a gold medalist in Greco-Roman and a silver medalist in freestyle at the Pre-Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada in 1975. Wojciechowski was a silver medalist in freestyle at the World Cup in 1974 and a bronze medalist at the World Cup in 1976. He was a two-time Ohio state champion for Whitmer High School in Toledo, Ohio. Wojciechowski was the first Junior World Team Trials freestyle champion in 1967. He coached high school wrestling for 15 years and coached youth wrestling in Toledo for many years. Wojciechowski competed in professional wrestling as "The Great Wojo" for over 10 years. He is a member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum George Tragos and Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame, the Mid-American Conference Hall of Fame, and the University of Toledo Varsity T Hall of Fame. Wojciechowski received the Lifetime Service to Wrestling award from the Ohio Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2013. He has a master's degree in guidance and counseling and worked almost 30 years as a high school teacher and counselor.

The Medal of Courage recipient is a wrestler or former wrestler who has overcome what appear to be insurmountable challenges, providing inspiration to others.

Mark Coleman is an NCAA Division I wrestling champion for Ohio State University, an All-American for Miami (Ohio) University, and a World silver medalist and Olympian for the United States. Nicknamed "The Hammer", he was the first UFC heavyweight champion and was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2008. While staying with his parents in his childhood home in March of 2024, Coleman was awakened at 3 a.m. by his beloved dog and training partner, Lil’ Hammer, an 11-month-old Rottweiler. Getting up to get a glass of water, Coleman saw what he thought were clouds in the kitchen. When he went to open the door to let in fresh air, he burned his hand on the door knob. Realizing it was smoke and not clouds, Coleman immediately thought of his parents, asleep in their bedroom. After yelling for them and not receiving a response, he began moving through the burning house. Fearing they were already dead, he finally heard his mother answer. Reaching their room, he had them interlock arms and began to lead them out. Gently tugging his 83-year-old father, Coleman reached the garage, relieved. As he turned around, he realized that it was only his father with him. After getting his father out of the house, Coleman went back in to save his mother, an 80-year-old lifelong asthmatic who hadn't made it out of the bedroom. She had turned on a bedside lamp that Coleman followed through the smoke. While pulling her to safety, Coleman tumbled sideways, but years of wrestling took over and he regained his footing. His mother safely outside, Coleman returned to the house to find his beloved dog, who had helped him rebound from multiple hip surgeries. Coleman was unable to find his faithful companion and succumbed to smoke inhalation and passed out. He was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Ohio after inhaling harmful amounts of smoke, and placed into a medically induced coma as doctors worked to clear his lungs. After waking up, Coleman was told by his adult daughters, McKenzie and Morgan, that his parents were safe and recovering at his sister's home, but that Lil’ Hammer had died of smoke inhalation. Three days out of the hospital, Coleman was exercising again, joined by King Martell, another Rottweiler he’d adopted to keep him company. He has continued his recovery while working to stay sober and get his body back in shape.

The Order of Merit is presented to an individual that has made a significant contribution to the sport of wrestling, but who is not an athlete or a coach. The Order of Merit recipient is determined in a vote of Distinguished Members.

Van Stokes was selected by the United States Army to serve as the representative for the Armed Forces on the Board of Directors for USA Wrestling in 1989. He remained in that role, with the exception of one year in 1997, until his retirement from federal service in 2014. He then served six years on the board as chairman of the Greco-Roman Sport Committee before being elected as an At-Large member, a role he continues to this day. Stokes has served as an officer during eight different Olympic quads with four terms as treasurer and two terms as both Second Vice President and Secretary. He has also chaired or served on the following USA Wrestling committees: ad hoc bylaws review, ad hoc fee structure review, ethics and membership, executive, finance, freestyle coaches selection, governance, Greco-Roman coaches selection, Greco-Roman Sport, long range planning, and women's oversight. After serving for two years in the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam era, Stokes completed his master's degree in sports administration from Ohio University in 1974. He served as a regional coordinator and Assistant Chief of Army Sports in Europe from 1976 to 1985 and was responsible for organizing wrestling clinics, conducting championships, officiating competitions, and developing wrestling programs to serve soldiers in Europe. Stokes became the sports director for the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and Fort Campbell, Kentucky in 1985. He established the installation as the home of the All-Army wrestling team and the Armed Forces wrestling championships in 1987. Stokes served as a Wrestling Team Leader for the Armed Forces at seven World Military Championships, held in Croatia, Finland, India, Sicily, and Turkey from 1988-2010. He served as a Team Leader for USA Wrestling at two Cera Pelado Cups in Cuba, a Pan American Games in Argentina, a World Cup in France, a World Championship in Russia, a Takhti Cup and a Habibi & Movahed Cup in Iran from 1992 to 2010. Stokes began working as a sports broadcaster in 1990 and did broadcasts for multiple Olympic-style sports on ESPN, TBS and other networks. He served as assistant producer for wrestling at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and at the World Championships in 1995 and 2003. Stokes also served as a television announcer for the national broadcasts of the 1995 World Championships, along with numerous other USA Wrestling competitions, including the U.S. Nationals. He is currently in his 26th year as the color commentator for football and the baseball play-by-play voice for Austin Peay State University. Stokes has served on the Board of Directors for the Fort Campbell Historical Foundation while also being chairperson of the Clarksville Area YMCA and a member of the National Committee for Membership Standards with the YMCA of the USA. He is a certified conflict mediator and a quality adviser who has delivered leadership training and strategic planning sessions with the Army in Europe, Korea, Japan, and various locations in the United States. Stokes lettered three years as a running back for Marietta College in the NCAA Division III Ohio Athletic Conference from 1967 to 1969.

The Meritorious Official award recognizes outstanding service as a referee, judge, or pairing official.

Ken Mara began his officiating career as a way to earn some extra cash after getting married. It marked the start of the career of one of the country's top wrestling officials. Mara worked 25 years as an NCAA wrestling official, and refereed 20 NCAA Division I national championship finals matches. He also officiated NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III regionals, and served five years as an NCAA Division I official evaluator. Mara officiated at NCAA National Duals Championships, Big Ten Championships, Southern Conference Championships, Virginia Duals, Mid-American Conference Championships, Southeast Conference Championships and All-Academy Championships. He also had more than 50 years of service to the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association, including officiating 28 TSSAA state championships in 35 years as a high school wrestling official. After stepping off the mat, he continued to work as an evaluator and supervisor. Mara was a Tennessee state champion and helped Notre Dame High School win the Tennessee state team championship in 1968. He went on to wrestle at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga. He received the Lifetime Service to Wrestling award from the Tennessee Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2008, and was inducted into the Greater Chattanooga Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. Mara was presented the TSSAA Distinguished Service award in recognition of his 50 years of service in 2020.

The Outstanding American award is presented to those individuals who have used the disciplines of wrestling to launch notable careers in other walks of life, such as science and technology, business and industry, government and the military, and the arts and humanities.

Terry Davis wrestled three years at Shadle Park High School in Spokane, Washington and taught and coached wrestling at the high school level in Spokane and for one year at the American School of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. He is best known for his 1979 novel Vision Quest about Louden Swain, a wrestler at Thompson High School who has just turned 18 years old and decides that he needs to something meaningful in his life. Swain decides to embark on a vision quest, a Native American term for a mission. His goal is to drop two weight classes to challenge three-time undefeated state champion Brian Schute. In his nomination letter for Davis, Matthew Modine, who played Swain in the 1985 movie Vision Quest, wrote that “countless people have told me how Davis’s story saved their lives and inspired them to be and do better. That’s what outstanding people do – they inspire others.” John Irving, who was honored as an Outstanding American by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1992 and who taught Davis at the University of Iowa's Writers' Workshop, has called Vision Quest "the truest novel about growing up since The Catcher in the Rye." The movie sponsored a USA Wrestling poster featuring the 1984 Olympians, which included Hall of Fame Distinguished Members Ed Banach, Lou Banach, Bruce Baumgartner, Jeff Blatnick, Dan Chandler, Barry Davis, Steve Fraser, Greg Gibson, Joe Gonzales, Randy Lewis, Andy Rein, Dave Schultz, Mark Schultz, and Bobby Weaver. Vision Quest was nominated for an American Book Award in 1981 and was named one of the Best of the Best Young Adult novels by Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of National Council of Teachers of English. It received a Best Books for Young Adults award from the American Library Association in 1995. His other novels are Mysterious Ways in 1984 and If Rock and Roll Were A Machine in 1993, which received Best Books for Young Adults awards from the ALA and the Association for Library Service to Children and a Books for the Teen Age award from the New York Public Library. Davis had two non-fiction articles published in Sports Illustrated, What Does a Wrestler Do For His Nosebleeds in 1978 and A Swimmer of Dire Straits in 1975, and three short fiction works - As I Did It in 1974 and As I Saw It and Fond Links to the Sausage Man in 1975. Davis received the Governor's Award for the Arts from the State of Washington in 1980 and the Distinguished Alumni Award from Eastern Washington University in 1984. Davis received his bachelor's degree in education from Eastern Washington State College in 1969 and his master's degree from the University of Iowa in 1973. He continued his education at Stanford University as an honored Wallace Stegner Literary Fellow. He taught creative writing for more than 30 years at East Carolina University, the University Idaho, Eastern Washington University, Gonzaga University, and Minnesota State, Mankato.