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    Mark Palmer •

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    Wyoming NCAA champ Ballinger dead at 79

    Dick Ballinger, the only NCAA champion wrestler for the University of Wyoming, died Jan. 26 in Loveland, Colo., according to multiple news reports Thursday. He was 79.

    Dick Ballinger
    A native of Cody, Wyo., Ballinger finished his collegiate career by winning the 167-pound title at the 1960 NCAA Wrestling Championships at the University of Maryland. The top-seeded Wyoming Cowboy senior defeated No. 2 seed Oklahoma State Cowboy wrestler Ronnie Clinton, 6-4, in the finals. For his stellar senior season, Ballinger was honored as the 1960 Admiral Land Award winner as Wyoming's top student-athlete.

    As a Wyoming wrestler for head coach Ev Lantz, Ballinger was a three-time NCAA All-American. As a sophomore, Ballinger made it to the 167 finals at the 1958 NCAA championships in his home gym at Wyoming, losing to Oklahoma State's Duane Murty, 4-2. At the 1959 NCAAs at University of Iowa, Ballinger placed fourth in the 167-pound bracket, losing in the third-place bout to familiar foe Murty.

    Ballinger helped guide his team to a sixth-place finish in the team standings at the 1959 NCAAs, and a Wyoming all-time best third-place finish in 1960.

    A three-time Skyline Conference Champion, Ballinger led Wyoming to three straight conference championships while never losing a regular-season match as a Cowboy.

    In 1999, Sports Illustrated named Ballinger one of "The Fifty Greatest Sports Figures from Wyoming," ranked No. 39. (Other native Wyoming wrestlers who made the list: Rulon Gardner and David Zuniga).

    Ballinger was welcomed into the University of Wyoming Hall of Fame as a member of its inaugural class in 1993.

    Ballinger is survived by his wife Sharon.

    No funeral service is planned.
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