National Wrestling Hall of Fame announces Class of 2003
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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
01/29/2003
Stillwater, Okla. - Two world-class wrestlers and two outstanding coaches have been selected as the National Wrestling Hall of Fame's Distinguished Members for 2003. Wrestlers in the Class of 2003 are Nate Carr and Kevin Jackson. The coaches are Louis Giani and Bucky Maughan. Nate Carr's wrestling career got off to a good start when he posted an astonishing 115-7 prep record at Erie Tech, including a Pennsylvania state title. In the collegiate ranks, Carr proved himself able to compete on the national level. He was a three-time NCAA Champion for Iowa State Univ. (1981-83) in the at 150 lbs. Carr also captured two Big Eight titles and was a two-time participant in the All Star Classic in 1981 and 1982. Upon graduating from Iowa State in 1983, he embarked on an outstanding international career. Carr was victimized by a judge's error which cost him a chance at advancing to the gold medal round and he had to settle for a bronze medal at the 1988 Olympics. He was a member of the 1983 and 1990 U.S. Freestyle World Teams. He captured the 1986 World Cup championship and the 1986 Pan-American championship. Car was a three-time U.S. National Freestyle Champion and won the 1990 Goodwill Games championship. Carr was recognized as one of the top assistant coaches in the nation while he was coaching at West Virginia Univ. Kevin Jackson won two Michigan state high school championships at Lansing Eastern High School. He then attended and wrestled for Louisiana State Univ., where he was a three-time All-American. When LSU dropped their wrestling program, Jackson transferred to Iowa State Univ. and was an NCAA runner-up as a senior in 1987. Jackson's career took a huge jump after college. He was a 1992 Olympic Gold Medalist in freestyle and won the 1991 and 1995 World Championships. He is a three-time World Cup champion and a two-time Pan American Games champion. Jackson was named the USA Wrestling Freestyle Wrestler of the Year in 1995, the 1992 Amateur Wrestling News Man of the Year and the 1991 U.S. Olympic Committee Wrestler of the Year. Jackson was previously inducted into the Michigan Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame. The latest phase of Jackson's wrestling career is as USA Wrestling's National Team Coach. He serves on the U.S. Olympic Committee's minority leader program (FLAME) and the Native American Sports Council. Lou Giani stands today as the greatest high school wrestling coach in the history of the state of New York and one of the top high school coaches in the country. During the past season, his team at Huntington High School won the New York State Tournament team title, making a total of eight team championships for Coach Giani. New York has 600 high school wrestling programs, but only one state tournament. His team competes in a region with 55 other schools. This past season, three of his wrestlers won state titles, increasing his career total to 22 state champions - an all-time New York state record. Giani's lifetime coaching mark in 34 seasons is 388-28-1. Giani has also contributed tremendously to the sport of wrestling over the past half-century, developing youth wrestling programs for two large Long Island towns. He has organized cultural exchange programs with the Soviet Union and Poland, and provided the opportunity for many economically disadvantaged youngsters to wrestle. Giani's accomplishments as a wrestler are equally impressive. He did not start wrestling until he was a junior in high school and did not attend college until later in life. Giani won ten New York Athletic Club titles and more than twenty other tournament titles across the country. He won a gold medal at the 1959 Pan American Games and represented the U.S. on the 1960 Olympic Freestyle team. North Dakota State Univ. head wrestling coach Bucky Maughan is a legend in the wrestling circles. He has guided the North Dakota State Bison to four national championships, including three of the last five. His squads have won 77 percent of their dual matches and the Bison have been a constant national power. In all, Maughan's teams have 30 top-10 finishes and 25 top-five finishes. He was recently named one of the Top 10 All-Time College Wrestling Coaches in a poll taken by Wrestling USA Magazine. Maughan has contributed to the sport of wrestling in many capacities, serving as host for the USA Wrestling Junior and the Cadet National Championships for nine years. He is a past member of the executive committee of the National Wrestling Coaches Association and is a past president of the NCAA Division II Coaches Association. A former Moorhead State Univ. wrestler, Maughan captured the 1962 NAIA Championship. He repeated in 1963, winning the NAIA championship title and the NCAA Division I championship crown the same season. Bucky Maughan was previously inducted into the Division II Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1997. Carr, Giani, Jackson and Maughan will be inducted as Distinguished Members of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame during Honors Weekend on June 7, 2003 in Stillwater, Okla.