Bill Smith
UNI 150: People you should know
Bill Smith’s path to greatness starting at UNI
William “Bill” Smith was the only American to win a gold medal in freestyle wrestling at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland.
Smith was born in Portland, Oregon, on Sept. 17, 1928. He attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he was an accomplished wrestler, finishing second and third at the state wrestling meets.
After high school, Smith attended Iowa State Teachers College, now the University of Northern Iowa, where he launched his wrestling career. While at UNI, he was a two-time NCAA champion in 1949 and 1950 and won three National AAU titles beginning in 1949. He was also named outstanding wrestler at the 1951 National AAU tournament.
Following his collegiate success, Smith won gold in freestyle wrestling at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, becoming the only American to win gold in freestyle wrestling that year.
After his wrestling career, Smith turned to coaching. He led Rock Island High School in Illinois for four seasons, guiding them to a state championship. He also coached at Ann Arbor High School in Michigan before moving to the University of Nebraska, where his team posted a winning record for four consecutive years.
After coaching at both the high school and college levels, Smith was named the athletic director and coach of the Olympic Club in San Francisco. In the late 1950’s his AAU teams won three national titles, and several of his athletes earned berths on the 1960 and 1964 U.S. Olympic Teams.
In 1968, Smith coached the Canadian Olympic wrestling team but returned to coaching highschool in California after one year.
While coaching at Clayton Valley High School in Concord, California, Smith’s team won the California high school championship, making him one of the few coaches to lead state championship teams in multiple states.
Smith earned numerous accolades, including Induction into the Iowa High School Wrestling Hall of Fame (1977), the Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame (1972) and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame (1978). Thomas Jefferson High School also dedicated its new wrestling room to Smith when the activities center was rebuilt in 2008.
Smith died on March 20, 2018, in Humboldt, Iowa, leaving behind a lasting legacy in the Iowa Wrestling community.
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