Dan Hodge Trophy

The Dan Hodge Trophy is awarded each year to the United States of America’s best college wrestler.^[1] The trophy is presented at the end of the season by WIN magazine and Culture House.^[2] It is the collegiate wrestling equivalent to the Heisman Trophy in college football.^[3] Its high school wrestling equivalent is the Junior Hodge Trophy, which has been awarded annually since 1998.^[4]

The Hodge Trophy is named after Danny Hodge, a three–time NCAA champion for the University of Oklahoma from 1955 to 1957.^[5] The Hodge Trophy was created by Mike Chapman, founder of WIN magazine and Culture House, a company that produces books and posters.^[6] The first winner was T.J. Jaworsky, a three–time NCAA Division I National champion from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1995.^[7]

There have been six multiple winners of the Hodge Trophy. The first was Iowa State's legend Cael Sanderson, who won the award three times in his run as the first undefeated four–time NCAA champion, the second was Ben Askren from Missouri, who won the award two times, the third and fourth were David Taylor and Zain Retherford respectively, both from Penn State, who won the award two times, the fifth is Spencer Lee from Iowa, and the sixth (and most recent) is Gable Steveson, who won the award two times, becoming the only heavyweight to do so.^[8]