LEWISBURG, Pa. – Bill Graham ’62, a former Bucknell wrestling team captain and the program’s largest benefactor, has been elected to the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) Hall of Fame, it was announced this week. Graham will be officially inducted into the EIWA Hall of Fame in a ceremony just before the finals of the EIWA Championships, which will be held inside Bucknell’s Sojka Pavilion March 5-6.

A member of Bucknell’s Board of Trustees, Graham’s support helped reinstate the Bison wrestling program back to varsity status in 2005. Additionally, his generous gifts have significantly benefitted women’s athletics programs at Bucknell.

“On behalf of Bucknell Athletics and the Bison wrestling program, I would like to congratulate Bill Graham on his election to the EIWA Hall of Fame,” said director of athletics and recreation John Hardt. “Bill is a wrestler at heart, and the impact of what he has done for Bucknell has been felt across the entire sport. We are very excited to be hosting the EIWA Championships in Sojka Pavilion in March, and Bill’s Hall of Fame induction adds to what should be a special weekend.”

Graham is chairman and chief executive officer of The Graham Company in Philadelphia, one of the nation’s largest insurance brokerage firms. He received the National Wrestling Coaches Association Meritorious Service Award in 2005 and he was named the National Association of Athletic Development Directors University Division Donor of the Year in 2007.

As a senior, Graham helped lead the Bison wrestling squad to one of only two undefeated seasons in program history as Bucknell went 9-0 in 1961-62.

The EIWA Hall of Fame inducted its first class in 1995 and currently has 100 distinguished members. Graham will be inducted into the Hall of Fame along with Navy’s Dan Hicks, who was the only four-time heavyweight EIWA finalist; James Detrixhe, who was co-captain of Lehigh’s 1962 team that won six of nine weight classes at the EIWA Championships; and Bill Koll, a former Northern Iowa student-athlete who was the first person to win two NCAA Outstanding Wrestler awards and later coached Penn State to six top-10 NCAA finishes.

Graham has witnessed the wrestling program he helped bring back achieve plenty of success in its first four years of competition since reinstatement. Last year Andy Rendos became Bucknell’s first-ever EIWA champion, and the Bison have finished in the top four at the EIWA Championships in each of the last two years. Additionally, Rendos and current senior Kevin LeValley became the fourth and fifth wrestlers in program history to achieve All-America status at the 2010 NCAA Championships.