By Shannon Scovel
NCAA.com

The Dan Hodge Trophy honors the top college wrestler every year. It was established in 1995 and is named after the legendary Dan Hodge, a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame who was an NCAA champion, Olympic medalist and ambassador for the sport of wrestling.

The award was established by longtime wrestling journalist and hall-of-famer Mike Chapman and presented by his WIN Magazine. The Hodge is equivalent to college football's Heisman Trophy. The award has only been awarded to two wrestlers in the same year twice: once in 2001 when Iowa State's Cael Sanderson split the award with Simpson College's Nick Ackerman and once in 2021 when Iowa's Spencer Lee split the award with Minnesota's Gable Steveson. 

Here's a look at the history and selection process for the award, along with a complete list of the winners. 

Dan Hodge Award History

The Hodge Trophy has a long history, but there are a few special facts about the trophy: 

• T.J. Jaworsky, the first winner of the Dan Hodge Trophy, is the only University of North Carolina wrestler to win the Hodge. Jaworsky won his third NCAA title in 1995 and was voted the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the NCAA tournament that same year 

• Only one athlete has won the Hodge Trophy three times: Cael Sanderson. The Iowa State graduate is also one of just three sophomores to have won the award and one of five juniors. He's also one of just six wrestlers to have won the award more than once. Of the other athletes who have won the award twice, Sanderson coached two of them: Zain Retherford and David Taylor. As the head coach of Penn State, Sanderson has coached four Hodge Trophy winners in his tenure at State College. 

• Nick Ackerman is the only DIII wrestler to win the Hodge Trophy. A senior from Simpson College, Ackerman is also the only wrestler to have won the award without having gone undefeated. Ackerman's accomplishments, however, don't end here. He's also the only double-amputee to have won the award. 

• A Division I wrestler has won the Hodge Trophy every year except for two, 2001 and 2004. Ackerman won the award in 2001, and three years later, Emmett Willson of Montana State University-Northern became the first NAIA wrestler to win the award. Willson's resume included a 50-0 record the year he took home the Hodge. Twenty-four of Willson's 50 wins were pins; he also beat four Division I All-Americans during his award-winning season. 

• The 2020 Hodge Trophy winner, Spencer Lee, is the only athlete who did not compete in the NCAA championship the same year he won the Hodge Trophy. The tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Lee's dominance during the season enabled him to capture the votes necessary to win the prestigious award. Lee won the 125-pound weight class at the NCAA tournament in 2018, 2019 and 2021 and is a two-time winner of the Hodge after earning the award for a second time in 2021. 

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