It was a great night for USA Wrestling and a tremendous opportunity to celebrate the achievement of wrestlers.    USA Wrestling hosted an "An Evening with Legends" at the historic New York Athletic Club on Saturday, September 13. The magical evening featured a special recognition of six former wrestlers who went on to become great leaders in our society.    It was an all-star cast of some of the most powerful and influential people in the world, who shared a common bond - the sport of wrestling. Each were given a special award by Raphael Martinetti, the president of FILA, the international wrestling federation.    These respected honorees included:  * Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives J. Dennis Hastert  * Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld  * President Bush's Chief Economic Advisor Stephen Friedman  * Academy Award winning playwrite and author John Irving  * Nobel Peace Prize winning agronomist Norman Borlaug  * Chairman of Samsung Kun-Hee Lee    An overflow crowd of over 300 wrestling leaders, special guests and dozens of past U.S. gold medals assembled at the New York Athletic Club, after the Saturday evening quarterfinal round at the World Championships of Freestyle Wrestling, held in Madison Square Garden.    The program was moderated by USA Wrestling Board of Directors member John Bardis, who provided inspirational messages and moved the program along with style.    Each of the award winners had a special person making their introduction, providing some biographical information and personal perspective on the honoree, plus their wrestling and professional careers.    Speaker Hastert was introduced by a fellow Republican Allan Jones, who provided some humor while telling of Hastert's achievements as a wrestler and wrestling coach.    Hastert explained how wrestling helped get him into politics, as a grass-roots wrestling coach who went to Washington D.C. to lobby concerning the Amateur Sports Act legislation. He also told how the lessons of discipline and dedication have served him in his political career.    After a touching introduction by his college friend and teammate from Princeton, NCAA champion Brad Glass, Secretary Rumsfeld brought down the house in his straight-forward style by simply saying, "I love wrestling." He told how wrestling helped him in all aspects of his life and his career, providing the foundation for his amazing leadership skills. He also told a story about his last wrestling match, when a young college athlete helped him decide that his playing days were over.    Introducing Stephen Friedman was fellow Cornell wrestler Arno Niemand, who provided a sketch of a person who was both a national champion freestyle wrestler, and one of the nation's great financial geniuses.    Friedman told a funny story about how he was at a Cornell function with his foot in a cast, and how a Cornell peer was telling his wife a story how some older former wrestler was injured at the Cornell wrestling alumni match. (Of course it was Friedman who had been hurt wrestling). He also explained how much wrestling meant to him throughout his life and career.    Introducing John Irving was wrestling legend Dan Gable, who met Irving at the University of Iowa. Irving was a young man in the Iowa's Writers Workshop, who came to practice to wrestle against Gable many times. Gable joked that Irving received a better workout than he did. Gable also explained how Irving once told him that "he was going to be somebody some day," and how Irving made it all happen because of his amazing imagination.    Irving told a few humorous stories including one from the Academy Awards ceremony. He noted that throughout his long wrestling career, which went into his 30's, he received a better workout than many of his rivals. He commented that he has received his recognition from wrestling "through the back door." He also shared the deep love that he, as well as his family, had for wrestling and how it has been a part of their lives.    Providing the introduction for Dr. Borlaug was fellow Minnesota wrestler, elite international wrestler and championship coach Alan Rice.    Dr. Borlaug talked about the lessons he learned from wrestling, and how it helped him when he went to other nations to help them. Borlaug used those skills to lead other people, who went on to transform food production in these nations and save millions of lives.    Mr. Lee was unable to attend, but his rich biographical information was read, and his award was accepted by FILA Bureau member Chang Kim.    Early in the evening, a special honor was also presented to John and Helen Vaughan, longtime USA Wrestling leaders who have provided tremendous personal and financial support for the sport for many years. USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender explained about John Vaughan's amazing career as an inventor and businessman, and also shared stories of the personal commitment that the Vaughans have made to wrestling.    As part of the "Evening with Legends," every U.S. World or Olympic gold medalists in history had been invited to be recognized. A total of 30 gold-medal winners were in attendance, providing the honorees and guests a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rub elbows with the greatest wrestlers in American history. The function displayed the true legacy for the sport in our nation. The gold-medalists ranged in era from 1969 World Champion Fred Fozzard to 2002 World Champion Dremiel Byers, and included champions in men's freestyle, men's Greco-Roman and women's freestyle wrestling. The honored guests were very excited to meet the great American wrestlers who had reached the highest level of success as athletes.    Never before had a collection of so many wrestling greats and outstanding American citizens who were wrestlers been assembled in the same place. The atmosphere was electric from the opening cocktail hour to the close of the formal program two hours later.    USA Wrestling offers special thanks to the committee of leaders who helped make "An Evening with Legends" such a major success: John Bardis, Scott Beck, Stan Dziedzic, Bill Farrell, Jeff Levitetz, Art Martori, David Pottruck, James Ravannack, Myron Roderick and John Vaughan.