Yelm coach Gaylord Strand to be inducted into National Wrestling Hall of Fame

Yelm High School wrestling coach Gaylord Strand will be inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, its Washington chapter announced Tuesday.

Strand, now in his 43rd season coaching the Tornados, is part of a class of 11 inductees from Washington representing high schools, colleges and associations around the state. A banquet and induction ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. March 19 at the Red Lion Hotel in Olympia.

The event is open to the public, and tickets can be purchased on the National Wrestling Hall of Fame website.

The 11-member class has a combined 311 years of service to the sport and will be permanantly recognized at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Strand wrestled at Woodburn High School in Oregon, where his team won a state title, before wrestling for four years at Seattle Pacific University. He was a three-time competitor at the Division II national tournament.

He started coaching at Yelm in 1974 and has coached the Tornados to 14 league championships, six regional championships and a Class 3A state championship in 2010. Yelm has placed in the top six at Mat Classic nine times under Strand, who has coached 15 individual state champions and 95 state placers.

Strand has been named the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association’s Sportsmanship Coach of the Year twice, and he was inducted into the Washington State Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame in 2009.

This story was originally published January 10, 2017 at 1:00 PM with the headline "Yelm coach Gaylord Strand to be inducted into National Wrestling Hall of Fame."