University of Minnesota Athletics
Wally Johnson - M Club Hall of Fame
Wally Johnson
Football, 1941-42
Wrestling & Boxing, 1941-42
Wrestling Coach, 1952-1986
HOF Class of 1993
Detroit Lakes, MN native Wally Johnson was a member of Minnesota’s 1941 national championship football team, but also twice the Gophers’ middleweight boxing champion and captain of the wrestling team.
After college, Johnson taught and launched wrestling programs at Luther College in Iowa, and at South Dakota State University. In 1952, he came home as head coach of the Gopher wrestling team.
In his 34 years as coach of the Gophers, his wrestling squad posted a 392-209-11 (.650) record. Here he also captured Big Ten championships in 1957 and 1959, coached 35 individual Big Ten champions, four NCAA champs, and more than 40 All-Americans.
A founding member of USA Wrestling, Johnson was the organization’s first president. He was 1976 NCAA Coach of the Year, was inducted into the David Bartelma Minnesota Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1977, and was named a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1985.