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1-on-1 with Greg Wojciechowski
Greg Wojciechowski – Toledo (wrestling):
Greg Wojciechowski is regarded as the greatest wrestler ever at the University of Toledo. Wrestling as a heavyweight, Wojciechowski won one NCAA title, earned two second-place finishes and was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team.
As a sophomore in 1970, Wojciechowski won 18 of 19 matches, losing only in the championship round of the NCAA Championships. One year later, Wojciechowski became Toledo's second NCAA heavyweight champion, leading the Rockets to their highest team finish ever at the NCAAs, a 13th-place finish. He outscored his opponents 94-15 in matches that went to a decision that season and went on to win the National AAU title as well.
As a senior in 1972, he won 14 of his 15 matches, with his only defeat coming in the NCAA championship title match to 415-pound Chris Taylor of Iowa State. He finished his intercollegiate career with a record of 55-2 and won three straight MAC heavyweight titles.
Wojciechowski was runner-up at the Olympic Trials and was named an alternate for the U.S. Olympic teams in Greco-Roman wrestling in 1968, 1972 and 1976, and in freestyle in 1972 and 1976 before making the team in 1980. In that year, he won the U.S. Olympic Trials in both the freestyle and Greco-Roman events, the last American to sweep both events at the trials. Unfortunately, the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics kept Wojciechowski from participating.
Wojciechowski graduated from Toledo in 1972 with a bachelor’s degree in education and went on to earn a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from Toledo in 1976. Wojciechowski began his career as a teacher and wrestling coach at Archbold (Ohio) High School in 1972, mentoring John Cowell to a state championship at 126 pounds. He returned to Toledo in 1973 to train for the Olympics. There he taught in the occupational work adjustment programs for drop-out prone youths at Libbey High School, a position he held for 28 years. He taught high school wrestling at Libbey for 11 years and later at Bowsher High School for five years. He was also actively involved in establishing a wrestling program in Ohio middle schools.
After his successful amateur wrestling career, Wojciechowski made the jump to professional wrestling. Known as “The Great Wojo,” Wojciechowski spent 12 years as a professional wrestler, winning three World Wrestling Association heavyweight championship titles. He retired from the WWA as champion in 1987.
Wojciechowski was inducted into the UT Varsity T Hall of Fame in 1978 and the George Tragos and Lou Thesz Pro National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2015.
