A member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Board of Governors since 2007, Tom Talbot has served as vice chairman since 2018.

Talbot played football at Centerville High School in Centerville, Iowa, which did not start its wrestling program until two years after he graduated.

Despite never wrestling, Talbot became an avid fan after being introduced to our sport while attending the University of Northern Iowa.

Throughout his adult life, he has worked tirelessly on behalf of wrestling, including creating opportunities for wrestlers at all levels.

He served on the Portage (Wisconsin) High School Wrestling Club Board of Directors and donated materials and installation of a state-of-the-art floor system for the school’s wrestling room.

At the University of Wisconsin, he was an active member of the Wisconsin Weigh-In Club, including serving as president for three separate terms.

In the 1990s when Wisconsin needed a new wrestling facility, Talbot led the fundraising campaign and organized a volunteer demolition and reconstruction of the wrestling room. When the wrestling room was updated in 2007, Talbot’s companies outfitted the locker room with custom-made materials. Because of his support the Wisconsin wrestling facility is named the “Talbot Wrestling Complex.”

He has also generously supported USA Wrestling and wrestling clubs for world-caliber wrestlers.

After receiving his bachelor’s in marketing and business from Northern Iowa in 1971, Talbot moved to Madison, Wisconsin, to broker softwood lumber.

In 1979, he began his own lumber company, Glen Oak Lumber & Milling, Inc. Headquartered in Montello, Wisconsin, and with plants and distribution centers in four states, Glen Oak produces a diversified range of hardwood products.

Talbot, who is now retired and living in Oakwood, Georgia, was recognized as an Outstanding American by the Wisconsin Chapter of the Hall of Fame in 2010 and received the Lifetime Service to Wrestling award from the Ohio Chapter in 2013.

Tom and his wife, Jane, live in Oakwood, Georgia. They have three children, Tanya (Lance), Tara (Russ) and Hub (Trish).