IOWA CITY – Two University of Iowa wrestlers earned Hall of Fames nods this week. Two-time NCAA champion Chuck Yagla is being inducted to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, and three-time All-American Chad Zaputil is joining the Glen Brand Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Yagla was a three-time All-American from 1974-76 and won the 1975 and 1976 NCAA championship. He was an alternate on the 1976 Olympic team and earned a spot on the 1980 Olympic team but did not compete because of a United States boycott.
He began a career as an NCAA official in 1983 and worked the NCAA Division I Championships from 1996-2007, including five finals matches. Yagla received the Meritorious Official Award from the Hall of Fame in 2009 and was inducted into the Glen Brand Wrestling Hall of Fame of Iowa in 2004. The 2017 HOF induction ceremony is June 2-3 in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Chad Zaputil was a three-time Big Ten champion and a three-time NCAA tournament finalist from 1991-93. He had a career college record of 109-8-1 (.928) and was a member of three NCAA championship teams. Zaputil was a wrestling state champion for Centerville in 1987-88 and a three-time state finalist. All three of his opponents in the state finals were future college teammates, including future NCAA champions and current Iowa wrestling coaches, Tom Brands and Terry Brands.
The Glen Brand HOF class will be inducted June 24 in Waterloo, Iowa.
