Gone, Lost & Forgotten: Their Best = Eastern Washington

Another of the great wrestling programs that we lost over the years, Eastern Washington University competed at both the Division II and Division I levels during their time, but it was at the NAIA level that the Eagles really soared.  As a team they finished as the 1977 NAIA champions taking second in 1976 and third in 1978.  With a multitude of NAIA finalists and champions, one could make the case that they were the one of the  best collegiate wrestling program that the state of Washington ever had.

Let's take a look at their best wrestlers

118 lbs
Ken Foss

A transfer from North Idaho College where he was 5th in the 1976 NJCAA championships, Ken Foss made the most of his time at EWU.  Wrestling at 118 lbs he made the NAIA finals in both 1977and 1978.

126 lbs
Jerry Lorton

A native of Washington, Lorton wrestled for Goldendale high school where he won the 108 lbs state title in 1973.  He would go on to have a great career at Eastern Washington, capturing runner-up honors in at the 1978 NAIA championships.

134 lbs
Ted Navare

The move from NAIA to NCAA Division II was rather tough on the Eagles but they still managed to garner an All American before moving to Division I status a few years later.   134 lbs'er Ted Navare took 4th place at the 1982 championships.

142 lbs
Lynn Taylor

Another transfer of North Idaho who placed second at the 1975 NJCAA championships, Lynn Taylor would also take a second place finish at the 1978 NAIA championships.

158 lbs
Mike Reed

Another native of the Evergreen State, Mike Reed was a high school state champ for West Valley High in Spokane.  Before coming to Eastern Washington he was yet another North Idaho transfer who placed fifth at the 1975 NJCAA tournament.  He'd go on to win both the 1976 and 1977 NAIA title, being named the Outstanding wrestler of the 1977 tournament.

167 lbs
Reuben Rios 

Rios placed third at the 1973 NAIA championships.

177 lbs
Lanny Davidson

With as many great wrestlers as there were that came out of EWU, I'd have to say the best was Lanny Davidson.  Yet another native of the state, Davidson came to the Eagles from Ephrata High school and made an immediate impact in NAIA wrestling.  He made the 1974 finals and then won three titles in a row in 1975, 1976 and 1977.  He had 139 victories verses only six losses.

190 lbs
Tom Kenny

Kenny finished in fourth place at the 1974 NAIA championships

HWT
Don Wilson

Wilson was yet another Eagle to make the NAIA finals, finishing as the 1977 runner-up.


From what I have been able to gather what really hurt EWU wrestling was the move to Division I.  A school that had been so dominant at the NAIA level, that had just began to get used to the world of Division II, forced to move up to Division I.   The Eagles did have two NCAA DI qualifiers in Chris Boni who qualified at HWT in 1988 & Tracy Niles who qualified at 177 in 1989.

Unfortunately the program was dropped after a disappointing season in 1990.


The state of Washington did and still does produce some excellent high school wrestlers.  As you can tell with the number of these wrestlers mentioned above being natives of Washington, that when they had a place to wrestle at home, they did.   Wrestling was one of the most successful sports at EWU for a long period of time.  What a treat it'd be for the school, the state and the wrestling community to see the program one day reinstated.