John Dustin Honored

John Dustin at the unveiling of his Order of Merit

Oregon State Wrestling alumnus and FALL Club member, John Dustin, was honored by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame with the Order of Merit. The official ceremony will be held in Stillwater, Oklahoma, on June 1, 2013. Congratulations, John!!

A special thank you to Len Kauffman for sharing these photos of John at the Honors Banquet back in Stillwater.

John & Bonnie surrounded by their children and grandchildren

The biography provided for John by Gary Abbott of USA Wrestling for this event is as follows:

Order of Merit

JOHN DUSTIN, Portland, Ore.

For most of his life, John Dustin has served the sport of wrestling.

Wrestling for Oregon State University, he placed fourth at the NCAA wrestling tournament at 177 pounds in 1957 and 1958, becoming the first two-time All-American in program history. His 42-5 career record placed him eighth on Oregon State’s all-time career winning percentage list.

Dustin was an assistant coach at Oregon State before coaching at Marshfield High School from 1962-1970, where his wrestlers won eight individual state high school titles. In 1970, Dustin and his family left for a two-year assignment at the American School in Japan.

After returning to the United States Dustin continued a distinguished career of over five decades of service to the sport of wrestling, which included roles as a coach, national and international official, national and international sports administrator, and manager of the wrestling competitions at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, the Sydney Olympics in 2000, and three Goodwill Games. He has worked with FILA, the international governing body for the sport of wrestling, the Amateur Athletic Union, USA Wrestling, and virtually every major wrestling organization around the world.

He refereed three FILA World Championships, including the 1966 World Championships in Toledo, Ohio, the 1969 Junior World Championships in Boulder, Colo., and the 1971 Junior World Championships in Tokyo, Japan. He was also selected as team leader by USA Wrestling for the 1990 World Championships.

Dustin received nine major awards from FILA and additional awards from the Asian Wrestling Congress, and from the wrestling governing bodies of Taipei, Mexico, New Zealand, and Australia. Included in those awards are two Diplomas of Honor and a very special award in 2002 for “extraordinary contributions to the wrestling sport development all over the world” given by FILA president Milan Ercegan.