Col. Thomas L. Huff USAF DC Ret.

2022 Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame Inductee

Wrestling legends and legacies abound in Waterloo, Iowa and Tom Huff is a legend who helped cement one of those legacies.

A three-time state champion for another legend, Coach Bob Siddens, Huff was the youngest of four brothers who all excelled in wrestling at West Waterloo. Tom followed up a great high school career with an impressive collegiate career at the University of Iowa and years of success in Freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling for the Air Force Academy.

“I came from a wrestling family,” Huff said. “I remember wanting to be a state champion back when I was in grade school. I also remember being devastated when my oldest brother got beat at state. I started setting goals back then.”

Tom’s two oldest brothers placed at the state tournament, and his brother Don won two Class A state titles. Huff credits his brothers for setting such high standards and showing him how to achieve his goals.

Tom’s part of the legacy began in 1957 when as a sophomore he won the 95-pound state title, the same year his brother Don won his second state title. Tom followed up with a 112-pound title as a junior and a 120-pound title as a senior. He finished his high school career with a 60-1-1 record.

Tom went on to place third in the 1959 Pan Am Games tryouts, despite not even knowing the rules of Freestyle wrestling. “Bill Koll, the coach at Iowa State Teachers College, taught me as we went along. It was a great experience,” Huff recalled.

Wrestling at the University of Iowa, Huff was a two-time Big Ten champion at 130 pounds (1962) and 137 pounds (1963). In 1962, he placed third at the NCAA tournament and was the National Runner-up in 1963. He also placed third in the Greco-Roman final Olympic Trials in 1964. Huff’s coach at Iowa was Dave “The Whip” McCuskey.

As a reserve in the Air Force, Huff was expected to continue wrestling. His success continued for years as he went on to win six USAF titles, competing between 138.5 and 149 pounds. Huff wrestled through 1974, winning his final title at 149 pounds. He also coached for a few of those years with the Air Force.

In 1968, Huff placed second in the Olympic Trials. “I got beat 7-5 by Bobby Douglas in the finals,” Huff recalled. “It was a tough weight class, but I placed ahead of Dan Gable, who finished third that year. He was pretty young, but I pinned him.”

Huff was inducted into the IHSAA Hall of Fame in 1985 and was honored with the
Huff Family Legacy Award from the Dan Gable Museum in 2013.

A 2022 inductee, Huff was originally set to be inducted into the Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2020 alongside Tom Hogan, G. Wyatt Schultz, and Chad Zaputil, but the pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2020 and 2021 banquet.