The Brown & White

Lehigh wrestling alum Bobby Weaver, '84, will be inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum on May 30-31 in Stillwater, Okla., for a lifetime of achievements in wrestling.

Weaver is Lehigh's only Olympic gold medalist, winning the medal in 1984 after pinning Japan's Takashie Irie at 105.5. He also made the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y., but did not compete due to the U.S.'s boycotts, and was an alternate for the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.

At Lehigh, Weaver was a two-time EIWA champion, winning in 1982 and 1983 at 118. He earned All-American status his junior year after placing third at the NCAA Championship. He was inducted into Lehigh's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992. In high school, Weaver won three state championships while competing for Easton High School, and progressed to earn a national championship for Blair Academy.

The acclaimed wrestler also won two world cup titles at 105.5 in 1980 and 1984, and placed second and fifth in 1979 and 1983, respectively.

Weaver said his various titles and specific victories don't mean as much as the journey through his wrestling career.

"When you get into records, you realize they don't mean a whole lot," Weaver said. "It's not one area that is the primary highlight. It's the fulfillment at each level. As you climb up the ranks, the workload gets more intense. You look at guys from every level: high school, college, the Olympics, and it's all just a journey."

Although Weaver wrestled in the Olympics at 105.5, he wrestled at 118 in college, the lightest weight class available. Constantly facing competitors heavier than himself was an obstacle Weaver said he initially had difficulty overcoming.

"I was 113 in college but the lowest weight bracket was 118," Weaver said. "So I was wrestling kids cutting from even 135-140. In college you aren't always on the winning end. You had to learn how to deal with obstacles. I could be wrestling a kid at 140-150 pounds and even if I have better technique and better speed, I would lose because of sheer size."

Lehigh's current Head Coach Greg Strobel said that despite Weaver's much lighter weight, he continued to succeed competing against heavier wrestlers.

"He was always wrestling kids heavier than himself and he still did a great job collegiality and that's an inspiration for kids," Strobel said. "He was tremendously undersized and he's still a motivation to our wrestlers today because of what he has accomplished."

Lehigh's long tradition as a competitive wrestling school first grabbed Weaver's attention when his older brother was recruited to wrestle for the university. After his brother got hurt in a car accident, Weaver decided he wanted to follow in his brother's footsteps.

"I grew up with the school in my backyard," Weaver said. "I had a great personal connection [at Lehigh] because of my brother and the coaches."

Strobel said Weaver helped to shape the ideals and values Lehigh wrestling stands for today. With such a rich tradition of excellence, overachievers like Weaver are still looked up to by today's team members.

"I truly believe there's something about the attitude and atmosphere here at Lehigh that has always produced overachievers in the workplace, athletics and the classroom," Strobel said. "Our job is not just to do what is expected of us, but to do even more than what is expected."

After his time at Lehigh, Weaver competed until he was 25. Since then, he has been actively coaching.

In December 2006, he and a few colleagues created the Bobby Weaver Elite Wrestling Club. Assistant coach and administrator Randy Cruz said despite the collective effort behind starting the club, Weaver played a huge role.

"There was a lot of interest [to start a clinic] so we called Bobby to ask if we could call it the Weaver Elite in response to his legacy here," Cruz said. "It was a collective idea from the clinic's four-person board. We wanted Bobby, we needed to have a good place to go and a good person to rely on."

Weaver Elite focuses on teaching young kids to become both great athletes and teammates, Cruz said.

"It's like a family, we deal with the positives and negatives of wrestling and life," Cruz said.

Weaver became interested in Weaver Elite when another local club dissolved, taking away opportunities for kids to wrestle.

"Wrestling is an all year thing," Weaver said. "If you're out for six or nine months you're behind. The local clinic had just dissolved and these kids weren't doing anything for a while, so we created the Weaver Elite. That was a big loss of time; the kids' wrestling was standing still or even going backwards."

The club holds practices locally, moving between Freedom High School in Bethlehem, Emmaus High School in Emmaus, and Lehigh's Taylor Gymnasium. Weaver said starting the club allowed kids from all over a chance to wrestle; some even travel an hour or more to practice.

Weaver's lifetime achievements, from his All-American status to Olympic gold to starting the Weaver Elite, have all led up to his recognition by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum.

He will be inducted along with three other men, Ricky Bonomo, Mike Houck, and Wayne Martin.