WORLD CHAMPION WRESTLER LES GUTCHES PLACES SIXTH IN 1997 USOC SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR BALLOTING; DEAF WRESTLER MATT HAMILL PLACES TENTH 
   1997 World Champion wrestler Les Gutches (Corvallis, Ore./Sunkist Kids) placed sixth in the 1997 U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) SportsMan of the Year balloting. 
   Matt Hamil, a deaf wrestler who won gold medals in both freestyle and Greco-Roman at the Deaf World Championships, placed 10th in the voting. Hamil was nominated by the American Athletic Association of the Deaf. 
   Professional tennis star Pete Sampras was awarded the 1997 USOC SportsMan of the Year award with 400 points, placing 24 points ahead of runner-up Allen Johnson, a track and field star. Rounding out the top five were figure skater Todd Eldridge, archery star Justin Huish and baseball player J.D. Drew. 
   In addition, Tara Lipinski was named as the USOC SportsWoman of the Year, and the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team was named as the USOC Team of the Year. The honorees were selected from among 92 athletes and 25 teams represented 56 USOC member organizations in a vote including USOC leaders, athletes and members of the national media. 
   Two other wrestlers were nominated but did not place in the top 10 of the balloting, men's Greco-Roman wrestler Rulon Gardner (Mesa, Ariz./Sunkist Kids) and women's freestyle wrestler Sandra Bacher (San Jose, Calif./Dave Schultz WC). 
   Gutches was the 1997 World Champion in freestyle wrestling at 187.25 pounds, the top U.S. wrestling performance of the year. It is the first time that Gutches has been named as a Top 10 finalist for this award. 
   Two-time Olympic Champion John Smith is the only wrestler who has ever won the USOC SportsMan of the Year award, when he received the honor in 1990. 
   Gutches' gold medal performance led the United States to a sixth place finish at the World Championships. Gutches defeated Eldar Assanov of Ukraine in gold-medal finals, in a 1-1 overtime referee's decision. He won five matches on the way to the gold medal. For his outstanding achievement, Gutches was named the USOC's SportsMan of the Month in August. 
   Gutches won every competition that he entered in 1997, including the 1997 Freestyle World Team Trials in Las Vegas, Nev. in May, and the 1997 U.S. National Championships in Orlando, Fla. in April. It was his second straight national title.  
   In order to make the U.S. team, Gutches had to beat 1992 Olympic champion and two-time World Champion Kevin Jackson in finals of the U.S. Nationals and World Team Trials. Gutches recovered from back surgery early in season. He was a member of the 1996 U.S. Olympic team, placing seventh at 180.5 pounds.  
   He competes for the Sunkist Kids, and was a two-time NCAA Champion for Oregon State University. He is an assistant wrestling coach for Oregon State. 
  1997 USOC SportsMan of the Year award 
   1. Pete Sampras, tennis, 400 pts.; 2. Allen Johnson, track and field, 376 pts.; 3. Todd Eldridge, figure skating, 315 pts.; 4. Justin Huish, archery, 288 pts.; 5. J.D. Drew, baseball, 272 pts.; 6. Les Gutches, freestyle wrestling, 245 pts.; 7. Chad Carvin, swimming, 221 pts.; 8. Scott Shipley, Canoe/Kayak, 194 pts.; 9. Earl Boykins, basketball, 189 pts.; 10. Matt Hamil, deaf wrestling, 166 pts.