The torch that signifies Dean Lahr’s place in wrestling sometimes needs new fuel to keep it lit.
It’s not that the accomplishments no longer are valid. It’s just that they sometimes get lost in the fog of time. It has been 27 years since the University of Colorado dropped its wrestling program, striking the beginning of the end of a once-flourishing collegiate wrestling scene along the Front Range that included the Buffaloes, Colorado State, the University of Denver, the Air Force Academy and Northern Colorado.
Only Air Force has remained active in Division I, and UNC is on the way back to developing a program at the top level.
But there wasn’t any lack of activity in collegiate wrestling in Lahr’s days 43 years ago. If the torch dwindles from memory, the details of Lahr’s heroics quickly bring the flame back big and bright.
“The high points seem to change a little bit as you get older and look back,” said Lahr, now 65 and dividing his time between Eugene, Ore., and business ventures in Honduras. “Really, there are two or three, but being selected as the outstanding wrestler in the 1964 NCAA Tournament, the outstanding wrestler in the nation by the National Coaches Clinic and the outstanding wrestler in the Olympic Trials the same year has to be right up there. I don’t know if there has been another wrestler do that before or since.”
In 1964, Lahr became CU’s first three-time All-American. He also won his second NCAA wrestling championship at 177 pounds and his second Big Eight Conference title. The year before, Lahr received the Robert Russell Memorial Award, signifying him as the outstanding amateur athlete in the Rocky Mountain area.
With all that, Lahr once considered wrestling his second sport.
“His first and long-lasting love was football,” said Linn Long, Lahr’s wrestling coach at CU. “He came to CU on a football scholarship. He was fond of wrestling, and I kept talking to him about coming out and he finally did.”
Lahr grew up in Lincoln, Neb., and was a die-hard Cornhuskers fan. His dad had taken him to Nebraska games, and he became enthralled by watching College Football Hall of Fame member Bobby Reynolds star for the Cornhuskers.
But while Lahr was in high school, the family moved to Denver’s north side, and his attention shifted to CU. While at North High School, Lahr was an undefeated state wrestling champion in 1960 for coach Joe Klune. Lahr played football and ran the hurdles in track and field for three years.
A knee injury in 1964 cut short Lahr’s venture into international wrestling after his collegiate career ended. Surgery followed, and he retired from competition in 1966.
“I don’t feel too disappointed about not competing in the Olympics,” Lahr said. “It would have been tough to win in 1964, because I was a newcomer. I would have had a better chance in 1968, but the injury had forced me out.”
Lahr did wrestle once more, but not at his choosing. In 1987, Lahr was the victim of a business partner who wanted to take over the operation without any interference. Two hired thugs attacked him and, although he was shot in the foot, his wrestling skills prevailed.
“It was dark and I couldn’t see what was going on very well,” Lahr said. “I just did a lot of things that I had done on the wrestling mat before. It backfired on them.”
Lahr has turned his attention to his wood-products business in Honduras. But his wrestling career shouldn’t be forgotten.
“He was an outstanding student with degrees in business and engineering,” Long said. “He was the best wrestler CU ever had, no question about it.”
Dean Lahr bio
Born: June 11, 1942, in Lincoln, Neb.
High school: Denver North, 1958-60.
College: Colorado, 1960-64.
Employment: U.S. Steel Corp.
Private business: Honduras, 1977-current.
