1936 OLYMPIC SILVER MEDALIST DICK VOLIVA, 87, LONGTIME COACH AT RUTGERS UNIV., HAS PASSED AWAY 
   Dick Voliva, 87, a 1936 Olympic silver medalist in freestyle wrestling and long-time wrestling coach at Rutgers University, recently passed away in Amherst, Mass.  
 Voliva was inducted as a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1984. 
 Voliva competed at 174 pounds at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany, winning a silver medal. He was one of four U.S. medalists at the Berlin Games, on a team coached by William Thom. 
 As a high school and college wrestler, Voliva had competed in freestyle, winning several regional tournaments and in 1932 reaching the National AAU finals. During a two-year term as graduate assistant at Ohio State, he placed third in the AAU Nationals in 1935 and captured the national title in 1936.  
 On his return from the Olympics, he took a teaching job at Montclair State and in 1938, launched a wrestling program at the Division III school. He next served a five-year stint in the Army. He had been commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army upon graduation in 1934, and during active duty he rose in rank to lieutenant colonel.  
 Voliva returned to New Jersey and took the head coaching position at Rutgers in 1946. Voliva served as the head coach at Rutgers for 23 seasons. His overall record at Rutgers was 142-71-7 and under his tutelage, Rutgers posted eight EIWA Champions. He was a leader among his colleagues, serving five years on the NCAA rules committee, two of them as chairman. He was president of the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association and of the National Wrestling Coaches Association. 
 Voliva was born in Bloomington, IN and attended Indiana University, where he became the national collegiate champion at 175 pounds in 1934 after a second-place finish a year earlier.  His overall collegiate record was 48-4. As a sophomore he was a member of the Hoosier team that claimed the 1932 NCAA championship, first ever for a Big Ten school.  
 He also starred in football, and as a senior was presented a special award for bringing honor and distinction to his university.  
 -- from National Wrestling Hall of Fame and other sources.