UW Hall of Fame Class of 2011: 7 Inductees in 7 Days

In honor of the newly inducted members of the University of Wyoming Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame, we will provide the seven inductees over a course of seven days.

Day 3: Robert Mason, Wrestling, 1949-1951

A native of Burns, Wyoming, Robert Mason was a basketball and football star in high school.  In fact, Mason had actually never even watched a wrestling match before enrolling at the University of Wyoming.  After watching the sport for the first time, Mason met with wrestling coach Everett Lantz and decided to join the team.

In his first year of competition, Mason won the Mountain States Conference championship at 165 pounds, repeating the effort in 1950.

In 1950 and 1951, he placed fourth in the nation at 155 pounds, earning All America honors.  Mason was also team captain in 1950 and 1951, leading the team to conference titles in each year.  Wyoming’s wrestling team also finished 12^th in the nation in 1950 and 13^th in 1951.

A three-time letterwinner for Wyoming, Mason received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at UW and went on to a distinguished career coaching and officiating high school and college wrestling.  Mason would go on to receive his doctorate in Education from the University of Washington.

In 1980, Mason was inducted into the National Junior College Athletic Association Hall of Fame.  In 2008, he was posthumously inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.  Robert Mason died in March, 2000 at 70 years old.

Be sure to come back to kowb1290.com tomorrow when we bring you Day 4 in our series of 7 Inductees in 7 Days!

Story Archive:

Day 1

Day 2