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Two-time Olympian Gray Simons enters his seventeenth year as head coach of the Old Dominion University wrestling team. Simons, one of the greatest wrestlers in United States history, is in his 36th season of collegiate coaching. He has amassed a 322-191-5 career record and an 129-104-2 record while at Old Dominion. In the seventeen years that Simons has been at Old Dominion, he has coached 27 wrestlers who have qualified for nationals, and five All-Americans. Last year his squad finished with a 6-10 record and a ninth place finish at the CAA Championships. Simons enjoyed an unparalleled wrestling career at Lock Haven in Lock Haven, Pa. During Simons’ freshman year, he was defeated twice in his first nine matches, but never lost again throughout his collegiate career. He garnered a record of 91-2, including 84 straight victories, before graduating from Lock Haven. In four years (1959-62), he won four NAIA Championships, three straight NCAA National Championships, was twice voted as the Outstanding Wrestler at the NCAA Tournament and was named outstanding wrestler in six of seven national meets, an accomplishment that has never been repeated. In an article in Sports Illustrated, Simons was referred to as “the best wrestler in America...a bowlegged, scrawny 5-foot 5-inch transplanted Southerner.” He has been named to the Helms Foundation (1971), the NAIA Hall of Fame (1975), the National Wrestling Hall of Fame (1978), Lock Haven State Hall of Fame (1981), the United States Achievement Hall of Fame (1982), the Pennsylvania State Wrestling Hall of Fame (1983) and the All-Time Collegiate Wrestling Team by Amateur Wrestling News. (1988). In the spring of 1992, Simons was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. He was also named the 33rd most important athlete of the century from the state of Virginia by Sports Illustrated in December of 1999. Simons is equally respected for his experience in the coaching ranks. In 1964, he returned to his alma mater and led the Bald Eagles to a 10-2 record. He remained at Lock Haven until 1970, winning two NAIA Championships, earning Coach-of-the-Year honors (1966 and 1967) and amassing a 59-10-1 record. He then moved to Indiana State, where he led the Sycamores to a 42-21-0 record from 1970-75. Simons next post was in the hills of Tennessee. While coaching the Volunteers (1975-86), he compiled a 92-56-2 record and trained ten All-Americans before the sport was eliminated from Tennessee’s program. The year that the Vols program was dropped, the team was ranked eighth in the nation. SIMONS’ CAREER RECORD LOCK HAVEN: 59-10-1 INDIANA STATE: 42-21-0 TENNESSEE: 92-56-2 OLD DOMINION: 129-104-2 OVERALL RECORD: 322-191-5/ 36 Years
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