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Awards
Gerry Leeman
Distinguished Member
Class Of 1977 | | Bursting onto the scene as a precocious youngster, Gerry Leeman won his first national freestyle championship at 112 pounds in 1940, while he was still in high school at Osage, Iowa. In fact, Leeman and a high school teammate scored more points in that AAU tournament than the official national team champion.
That event was the forerunner of an outstanding career. Wrestling three years for Dave McCuskey at Northern Iowa, he lost only one bout and reigned as NCAA champion and outstanding wrestler in 1946. His career was interrupted by wartime service as a Navy pilot.
In 1948, he scaled even further heights, winning another National AAU crown and earning the 125.5-pound position on the U. S. Olympic team. He brought home a silver medal from the London Games.
During the Olympic trials of 1948, he caught the eye of the great Billy Sheridan of Lehigh. Sheridan knew he had found his eventual successor as coach of the Engineers. And after two years as a title-winning high school pilot in Iowa, Leeman joined the Lehigh staff in 1950, succeeding Sheridan as head coach in 1953.
During his 18-year tenure, he never suffered a losing season, winning 161 dual meets against only 38 losses and producing six Eastern team champions and 36 individual winners. Six of his wrestlers captured 10 NCAA titles, including Lehigh's only three-timer, Mike Caruso.
He worked closely with Sheridan to carry on the nation's first summer wrestling camp, which had been established by Sheridan in 1935.
At Lehigh, Leeman also coached varsity tennis, soccer and cross-country, and freshman track. Even after his official retirement as head wrestling coach in 1970, he remained active in wrestling and other athletic programs at Lehigh.
In recognition of his impact on the sport of wrestling as an athlete and coach, Gerald G. Leeman is honored as a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. |
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