Hall of Fame
The 1979 wrestling squad is the second team to be inducted into the UCO Athletic Hall of Fame.
The Bronchos of first-year head coach Eddie Griffin went 7-3 in duals with wins over three Division I teams – including Alabama – and captured the school’s first-ever national wrestling championship by a 33-point margin in the NAIA national tournament, scoring what was then a record 102.5 points.
Central qualified all 10 individuals for the national meet and finished with seven All-Americans, including two individual champions.
David James and Johnny Powell claimed national titles for the Bronchos, while Jeff Robinett, Kent Taylor, John Finn, Steve Foster and Ron Zeno all had top-six national finishes to earn All-America accolades. Other national qualifiers were David Alley, Pat Pace and Robert LeGrande.
