Chris Pendleton’s high school wrestling team was participating at a camp in Reno, Nevada.
There, the 145-pound California State champion impressed Oklahoma State coach John Smith.
“We would’ve never found him if we weren’t at that camp,” Smith said. “We took a chance on him and when he came to Stillwater, he fell in love with it.”
Twenty years, two NCAA championships and three All-Americans later, Pendleton is returning to Stillwater as the first-year coach of Oregon State’s wrestling program.
Pendleton began his collegiate career when injuries at his weight class thrust him into the starting lineup as a freshman.