Sport: Wrestling
Born: November 2, 1960
Town: Haledon, New Jersey
Bruce Robert Baumgartner was born November 2, 1960 in Haledon, NJ. His parents, Lois and Bob, wanted him to get involved in sports, but he was too big for youth football and had no interest in baseball. Bruce was more interested in building things and taking things apart, much like his dad, a diesel mechanic. This would serve Bruce well throughout his wrestling career, as he had a knack for breaking down the strengths and weaknesses of opponents, and fixing any flaws in his own performance.
However, Bruce did not take up wrestling until his freshman year at Manchester Regional High School. Until then, his bouts were limited to house-wrecking tussles with his older brother, Rob. Bruce already weighed 190 pounds, but it took him a couple of years to understand how best to use his mountainous physique. As a senior at MRHS, he was undefeated during the regular season, but lost in the semifinals of the 1978 state tournament.
Bruce was an impressive college prospect, despite the fact that he had never finished higher than third in state competition. He accepted a scholarship in 1978 from Indiana University, and devoted himself to becoming NCAA champion and winning an Olympic gold medal. Again, it took Bruce a while to put it all together on the college level. He reached the NCAA Heavyweight final as a sophomore and junior, but lost both times. In 1981, at the AAU Nationals, Bruce lost to Dan Cook. He would not lose to another American wrestler again for more than 15 years.
Bruce went 44–0 as a senior and won the 1982 NCAA championship. He graduated with a record of 134–12. That spring, he married Linda Hochman, a trainer whom he had met while she was taping his ankles—no small accomplishment given the size of his ankles (and how shy Bruce was). They would have four children.
Heading into the 1984 Olympics, Bruce was reaching his peak. At 6’2” and 270 pounds, he had the size, strength and agility of a grizzly bear. At the height of his career, Bruce’s greatest American rival was Superheavyweight Tom Erikson. Bruce beat him more than 20 times in a row. It was pointed out at various times in his career that the reason American wrestling lagged behind the rest of the world is that people like Bruce ended up playing football and making a killing in the NFL.
Bruce was a silver medalist at the 1983 Pan American Games in Venezuela and won bronze at the 1983 World Championships in Kiev. His first international gold came at the ’84 Olympics in Los Angeles in 100kg+ Freestyle, where he bested Romanian Vasile Andrei Turkish star Ayhan Taskin and Canadian Robert Molle.
Bruce won gold at the Pan American Games again in 1987 and 1991, and the World Champiosnhips in 1986, 1993 and 1995. He won Olympic gold again in Barcelona in 1992—defeating another Canadian, Jeff Thue—and also brought home silver at the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul and at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. In 1995, Bruce won the Sullivan Award as America’s top amateur athlete.
In 1990, Bruce became the head wrestling coach at Edinboro University in Western Pennsylvania. Edinboro is a Division-II school in every sport but wrestling. In 1997, Bruce accepted the job of Athletic Director at Edinboro. Not surprisingly, it has remained an NCAA power. In 2016, Bruce was a unanimous pick for President of USA Wrestling.