Sherwyn Thorson

2007 Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame Inductee

May 10, 1940 – April 6, 2016

Sherwyn Thorson made Iowa history at a time when few people paid much attention to it. Now, as the years have passed and historical milestones have become clearer, it is evident that Thorson was a pioneer at the University of Iowa.

A two-sport standout during a rich period in Iowa athletics, Sherwyn recalls that he was one of the few wrestlers or football players at Iowa who lifted weights. “I went at the weights hard my junior year when a professor failed me in a course that I know I did well in. He told me he considered me a paid professional athlete and just wasn’t going to give me a passing grade,” Sherwyn recalled. The period of ineligibility gave him the time to bulk up into a very impressive physical specimen—even by today’s standards.

Thorson noted that at 235 pounds, he was a small heavyweight and believed he needed the extra strength to counter the weight disadvantage. He also mentioned that he only wrestled about half the season, taking a few weeks off after football season.

The coaches he competed for read like a “Who’s Who” in sports. He wrestled for Dave McCuskey and played football for Coach Forest Evashevski and Jerry Burns. When he played professional football, he was coached by Bud Grant, who would eventually become the legendary head coach of the Minnesota Vikings.

While exact records have been lost, Thorson said he was 22–1 in his senior year of high school, with his only loss coming in the state finals. He also noted that he was a member of the High School National Guard Armory Reserve, 133rd Unit, which covered three states. He won that wrestling competition three times, including victories over state champions from the other states.

Thorson went to Iowa on a football scholarship but joined the wrestling team after learning that the heavyweight who had defeated him for the state title in high school had a wrestling scholarship at Iowa. “I went after him with a passion, and after a year or so, he quit. I could beat the heavyweight, so that’s where I wrestled,” he recalled.

His national championship came in his senior year, when he went 10–1. His one loss came in the Big Ten finals, but Thorson rebounded in the NCAA tournament by defeating the two-time Big Ten champion. He became the seventh NCAA champion for the Hawkeyes, with Iowa placing third as a team—the highest finish for the program at that time. Thorson was also an All-American in football. He opted not to wrestle the 1961 season as he spent considerable time in the weight room, working to improve his football skills.

He went on to play professional football for eight years with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. “It was small potatoes back then, but I made more money than schoolteachers. I went to Canada because I could make more there than here… that was before the American Football League was established,” Thorson noted. He added that he felt more comfortable with coach Bud Grant, who went on to become a legend with the Minnesota Vikings. He recalled playing three years where he “played both ways” as an offensive guard and defensive linebacker.

Thorson was inducted into the Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2007 with Jeff Kerber, Bruce Kinseth, and Mike Land.