Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On November 15, 2008, Olympic Champion and Cyclone legend Glen Brand of Clarion passed away. An all-time Iowa wrestling legend, Brand captured gold at the 1948 London Olympics and helped shape the state’s international dominance on the mat.
Born and raised in Clarion, Brand placed second in the Iowa State High School Wrestling Tournament while winning three varsity letters in the sport at Clarion. After graduation in 1942, Brand joined the Marine Corps and spent nearly two years serving in the Pacific Theater during World War II. After the war, Brand enrolled at Iowa State, where he posted a 54-3 record during his collegiate career for the Cyclones and became the school’s first three-time all-American in any sport. Brand captured an NCAA championship in the 1948 NCAA tournament.
Going on to win the Olympic Trials, Brand headed to London to compete in the Olympics at 174 pounds. The first Iowan from an Iowa school to win an Olympic gold medal, Brand etched his name in the state’s sporting lore. Brand was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished member in 1978 and was also the first Iowa State athlete named to the Des Moines Register Sports Hall of Fame.
The "Glen Brand Wrestling Hall of Fame of Iowa" began in 2002 and honors people connected to wrestling and Iowa, a part of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum in Waterloo. #IowaOTD #IowaHistoryDaily #IowaHistoryCalendar
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