Chapman: Remembering wrestling legends who answered the call to serve

Photo: Steve Banach was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as the 2024 Outstanding American. Photo courtesy of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and USA Wrestling.

Editor’s Note: This article appeared in WIN’s Volume 33 Issue 2, which printed on Nov. 3, 2026. 

By Mike Chapman

Each year as Veterans Day rolls around, I get a bit nostalgic, and for two primary reasons. First, I think of the tremendous sacrifice millions of men and women have made for this great country; secondly, I reflect back on my own time in the U.S. Navy.

I entered right out of high school in 1962, at the age of 18, and was away from home in Iowa for the first time. I spent three years at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California, living on the USS Pelias, a dry-docked ship that had been at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, when Japanese planes struck the Hawaiian base in an infamous sneak attack that catapulted America into World War II.

Life was not easy for me and the 300 other sailors crammed into tight spaces on the Pelias, so my great escape was going to the large complex a mile away that offered a movie theater, library, weight room and several gyms.

I made the base wrestling team, which was coached by a former marine named Ron Pineda, and wound up competing at 190 pounds and heavyweight for nearly three years. We wrestled other military teams and several California colleges; it was a terrific experience, when I truly began to understand the power of the sport, in many ways.

Through the ensuing years, I have known many great wrestlers who had extensive military backgrounds, several of whom became close personal friends. Here are a few, in chronological order:

Stanley Henson was a three-time NCAA champion for Oklahoma State and in 1937 became the first sophomore to be voted tournament O.W. He served with distinction as a naval officer during World War II and for decades afterwards he was one of the finest surgeons in Colorado, where I first met him.

Joe Henson, Stanley’s younger brother, was undefeated during his collegiate years at the Naval Academy and won a bronze medal in the 1952 Olympic Games. Joe had a long career as a naval officer on many levels and was a key figure in the history of the sport for decades.

Dean Rockwell was a tough-as-nails naval officer who played a huge role in the landing at Omaha Beach during a crucial stage of World War II. He returned home and created the Michigan Wrestling Club and was head coach of the 1964 Greco-Roman Olympic team.

Dan Hodge spent two years in the navy before his incredible run as an Oklahoma Sooner in the late 1950s, where he became a pinning machine and a true legend of the sport. He is still the only wrestler to ever appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated and the top trophy in collegiate wrestling is named in his honor.

Ken Leuer

Ken Leuer was NCAA champion for Iowa in 1956 after placing second in 1955 and took off on an incredible 32-year Army career. He is credited with creating the modern Ranger Battalions and selected and trained men who were the pinnacle of highly specialized troops in the entire world. He rose to the rank of major general, and it would take an entire page to list all of his awards and accolades.

Wayne Baughman won 16 national titles (in folkstyle, freestyle, Greco-Roman and Sambo) and was on two Olympic teams and eight World teams. During his long stint as an officer in the Air Force, he added 15 interservice titles to his resume and in 2006 retired after 27 years as head coach at the Air Force Academy. He also wrote books and was a first-rank historian.

Russ Camilleri won 12 national titles in freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling and made two Olympic teams and three World teams. While serving as an officer in the Air Force, Russ also claimed six interservice championships.

Bob Steenlage was the state of Iowa’s first four-time state champion and became an All-American in 1965 at West Point and then served with great distinction in Vietnam. The book “Fighting Back” tells his incredible story.

J Robinson won national titles in both freestyle and Greco-Roman and was a member of Olympic and World teams. As a coach, he led the Minnesota Gophers to three NCAA team titles, and his intensive camps were extremely popular. J was a second lieutenant in the Army who attended Airborne and Ranger School, as well as Jungle Warfare School, and served in Vietnam.

Steve Banach is a retired Army Infantry Colonel who wrestled at Iowa with his twin brothers, Ed and Lou. In the military from 1983 to 2010, he was deployed to six combat zones. He led U.S. Army Rangers during a historic night combat parachute assault into Afghanistan in 2001, as the “spearhead” for the Global War on Terror. He also led U.S. Army Rangers in a second combat parachute assault into Al Anbar Province in western Iraq in 2003 and is a revered leader in many other areas of combat. 

Here are three more I wish I would have met:

• Earl Caddock of Walnut, Iowa, won three AAU national titles and then became world heavyweight professional champion in 1917. When World War I broke out, Earl was the first professional athlete to sign up and fought along the Western Front.
• David “Buddy” Arndt is the only wrestler to earn NCAA crowns on both sides of World War II. Competing for Oklahoma State, he won titles in 1941 and 1942 and then flew 100 combat missions in the war before returning to OSU to win the 145-pound title in 1946.
• Bill Koll was an undefeated three-time NCAA champion at Iowa Teachers College (now UNI) after seeing extensive battlefield action in World War II. Bill later became head coach at his alma mater and at Penn State.

So, there it is — a list of some wrestling legends that I always salute on Veterans Day. I’m sure you can think of many others, and this is the perfect time to do so!

(Mike Chapman is the founder of WIN, the Dan Hodge Trophy, the National Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum, author of 30 books and is a member of 11 halls of fame.)