By Tristan Warner
WIN Magazine

WIN Magazine Interview with Rich Bender

USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender continues to create opportunities for growth and development.

Awarded annually since 1995, in 2008, WIN Magazine started to name its Impact Award after WIN founder Mike Chapman, who actually shared the award in 1999 with his wife Bev. Mike has written over 500 columns on wrestling and several books on the sport.

WIN’s Impact Award each year recognizes an individual, organization or group that has made a significant impact on the sport of wrestling. The recipient of the 2026 Mike Chapman Impact Award is USA Wrestling and its executive director Rich Bender. The Wisconsin native has served at the helm for over 25 years, the longest-serving leader in the organization’s history, and continues to raise the bar for the sport in the United States.

“First and foremost, thank you for this honor,” Bender said. “This is a really humbling recognition. I am accepting this not on behalf of Rich Bender but certainly on behalf of USA Wrestling. I am so honored to accept an award that has Mike Chapman’s name on it; as everyone probably knows, he was one of our founding fathers and one of the very early supporters of USA Wrestling. He has invested a lifetime and cares deeply about our sport.”

Under Bender’s leadership, Team USA has earned 33 Olympic medals and well over 100 World Championship medals, and reached historic milestones, including the first U.S. women’s Olympic wrestling champion (Helen Maroulis at the 2016 Rio Games).

The accolades collected by American wrestlers under Bender’s leadership are aplenty, but just as importantly, so are the opportunities.

USA Wrestling’s focus on the age-group level systems as well as RTCs across the country, for example, have spurred unforeseen levels of growth and development at younger ages.

In what was a historic collegiate season of firsts for rookies, fans left Cleveland’s Rocket Arena in awe of what a sensational freshman class took to the mats in 2025-26. And this aligns with a trend of more college-ready freshmen entering the collegiate ranks year after year.

“USA Wrestling raised the resources to fully fund all age-group World Teams and the impressive grassroots infrastructure and growth that exists in our sport,” Bender said of the impressive assimilation of so many freshmen into the current collegiate wrestling landscape.

“American wrestling has truly benefited from the collaboration that has been developed between the traditional school/college wrestling community and the U.S. elite athlete program,” he said.

“Due in part to the USA Wrestling Regional Training Center model, young American wrestlers are exposed to high-level techniques and training opportunities at a younger age than ever before in our history. Much earlier in their wrestling careers, these prospective student-athletes are now exposed to some of the very best coaches, facilities and training opportunities that America has to offer.

“I can’t think of many things in the last couple decades that have had more of an impact on the sport than the Regional Training Center model. We are seeing the fruits of the labor of people investing in these kids early and seeing them flourish.”

Bender illustrated the notion that elite-level wrestlers are no longer choosing to focus on folkstyle development in their early years and delaying the transition to the international styles. Under his leadership, the boundaries between styles have blended, so to speak, as the top wrestlers are seamlessly transitioning to freestyle and Greco-Roman in the spring and summer months while contending to represent Team USA on age-group-level World Teams.

“The days of wrestlers waiting to finish their traditional folkstyle careers before endeavoring to make age-group World Teams and embarking on the Olympic journey have passed,” Bender said. “We are seeing that reality as numerous first-year college student-athletes are contending for both Senior World titles and NCAA championship titles concurrently.”

Chapman was thrilled to honor USA Wrestling and Bender’s contributions to the sport of wrestling, saying, “When I think of Rich Bender, two words leap to mind — class and successes. Not only is Rich the longest-serving executive director in the history of the organization, but he has led with a great deal of class. I first met Rich over 20 years ago when I was the founder of the International Wrestling Institute and Museum (now the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum) and Rich was just starting out at USA Wrestling. We were putting on a large international meet as a fundraiser for our museum but ran into a huge problem with the foreign team we were bringing in. Rich worked tirelessly to save the event for us, and it was a big success. Rich has been honored in so many ways that, frankly, we are honored to add his name to this list of Impact winners.”

As Bender and the rest of the USA Wrestling team preps for the busiest time of the organization’s calendar with World Team Trials, Final X and then the various subsequent UWW age-group and Senior World Championships on the horizon, Bender left American wrestling fans with a call to action.

“Fandom is important; it elevates our sport,” Bender said. “It ultimately was one of the foundational reasons why we were able to stay on the Olympic program because there is a worldwide relevancy of the sport at the highest level. We have been blessed as of late to have elite success at the age levels. Educating people that this is a year-round sport is important.

“Things like RAF (Real American Freestyle) are developing not only a deeper relationship with the wrestling fan and the international style but also developing a new fan base. We think people who are attending these events are more of the fringe wrestling people who may be MMA or WWE fans. They are being exposed to wrestling. “There is a compelling reason for people to care about Rankings Series tournaments and Pan-American Championships because it all builds towards the highest honor in the sport, which is winning an Olympic gold medal.”

In the end, the medals measure success, but USA Wrestling and Rich Bender’s true impact is seen in the generations of wrestlers who now believe those heights are possible.

All-Time Mike Chapman Impact Award Winners

2026 Rich Bender, USA Wrestling

2025 Mark Manning, Nebraska

2024 Art Martori, Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club

2023 Anthony Robles, Unstoppable

2022 Mike Moyer, National Wrestling Coaches Association

2021 Shane Griffith, Save Stanford Wrestling

2020 Sally Roberts & Adeline Gray, Women’s Wrestling

2019 Scott Goodale, Rutgers, and Troy Steiner, Fresno State

2018 Bill Zadick, USA Wrestling

2017 Kyle Snyder, Olympic & NCAA champion

2016 Tom Brands & Iowa Wrestling

2015 Andy Barth & Wayne Boyd, Titan Mercury WC

2014 Martin Floreani, FloWrestling

2013 Jim Scherr & Bill Scherr, Save Olympic Wrestling

2012 Billy Baldwin, Binghamton & Clay McEldowney, ASC

2011 Tim Curley and Penn State Athletic Department

2010 Greg Hatcher, Arkansas Wrestling

2009 Bob Ferraro, NHSCA, and Scott Casber, TDRTV

2008 Tom Ryan, Ohio State head coach

2007 Ivan Ivanov, USOEC head Greco coach

2006 Al Bevilacqua and Chris Bevilacqua, Beat the Streets

2005 Jack Roller, World of Wrestling

2004 Rulon Gardner, Two-time Olympic medal winner

2003 Toby Willis and Matt Case, RealProWrestling

2002 Larry Joseph and Eric Pearson, Title IX

2001 Lou Goldstein

2000 Eric LeSher

1999 Mike Chapman and Bev Chapman, Intl. Wrestling Inst. and Museum

1998 Kimberly Schuld and Doug Brooker, IPTV

1997 Dan Gable, Iowa head coach, and Leo Kocher, Title IX

1996 Dave Schultz and Nancy Schultz

1995 Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House and Dale Anderson