By: Troy MacNeill

ORLANDO, Fla. (December 1, 2023) – Widely regarded as the greatest freestyle wrestler of all time, John Smith has accepted his nomination into the AAU Wrestling Hall of Fame. Smith is the first nominee to be inducted into the Class of 2024 AAU Wrestling Hall of Fame for his outstanding commitment and enormous impact on the overall growth and development of the sport.
 
Known for his unstoppable low single-leg takedown, no wrestler was better than John Smith in his prime. Smith is the most titled American wrestler to ever compete. Over a six-year span, which began while he was a student at Oklahoma State, John Smith was the best wrestler in the world.
 
From 1986 to 1992, Smith became the most decorated American wrestler of all time. During that time he won two Olympic gold medals, four World titles in a row, back-to-back NCAA National Championships, two gold medals in the Pan American Games, six consecutive world-class championships, and five national Freestyle championships in five attempts. Smith is the only American wrestler to ever win six consecutive World and Olympic championships as a competitor, and became one of only three Americans to win two Olympic gold medals.
 
In 1990, John Smith became the first wrestler to be awarded the AAU James E. Sullivan Award, paving the way for wrestlers such as Kyle Snyder and Spencer Lee to carry on the tradition. Since 1930, the AAU Sullivan Award has been presented to the most outstanding athlete at the collegiate or Olympic level in the United States. That same year, Smith would become the first American to be chosen Master of Technique and Wrestler of the Year by the International Wrestling Federation.
 
After capturing gold in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, John Smith would retire from competition with a win rate of over 95 percent for his career. When his competition days were over, Smith began giving back to the sport and his college by becoming the head coach of the wrestling team at his alma mater, Oklahoma State University. Coaching the team since 1992, Smith has brought the OSU Cowboys five NCAA team titles (1994, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006) and he has coached 33 NCAA individual champions and five Olympians. Smith is OSU’s all-time winningest coach with a dual record of 476-72-6. His 476 dual wins is the most among active coaches and third overall at the Division I level.
 
The list of accolades befits a man who is known as one of the greatest wrestlers ever. At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Smith was recognized as one of the 100 Greatest Olympians of All Time. One of the greatest athletes of the 20th Century, John Smith was honored as a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1997. The list of hall of fames and accomplishments is long, but it has room for one more, as John Smith is adding the AAU Wrestling Hall of Fame class of 2024.
 
Inducting Smith into the AAU Wrestling Hall of Fame will be his Oklahoma State teammate and member of the AAU Wrestling Hall of Fame class of 2023, Tom Erikson. The special ceremony will be held this summer during the 2024 AAU Wrestling Scholastic Duals.
 
To see who else gets inducted into the AAU Wrestling Hall of Fame class of 2024, be sure to visit aauwrestling.net and follow us on social media: Facebook, Instagram, X/Twitter.