Modesto Junior College coach Lee Ehrler will be inducted in the California Wrestling Hall of Fame during the Annual Banquet on Saturday, May 16, at the Holiday Inn in Sacramento. He is one of nine individuals being inducted this year. Ehrler has been the head wrestling coach at MJC since 1986, where he has achieved two State Champions, 18 All-Americans and 56 State Placers.

Coach Ehrler initiated and has hosted a yearly High School Wrestling Tournament at MJC which has grown to include 51 participating teams. He was inducted into the MJC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992 and has served three years as the president of the California Community College Wrestling Coaches Association. To date, Ehrler has contributed 47 years to the sport of wrestling.

Ehrler began his wrestling career as a student at Modesto High School in 1960 where he placed second in the 1963 Northern California High School Wrestling Championships. In 1965 he won the 157 pound division of the California Community College Championships while attending MJC. Ehrler was the PAC 8 champion at 152 pounds in 1966 and again in 1967 while attending University of California, Los Angeles, and was voted the outstanding wrestler at the 1967 PAC 8 tournament.

Ehrler placed third in the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in 1967. The following week he defeated the NCAA Division I champion, Jim Kammia in the East-West dual meet. In 1967 he placed second at the National AAU Greco-Roman Tournament, and fourth at the National Freestyle Tournament. He placed third in the National Freestyle Tournament in 1968.

Ehrler's coaching career began at UCLA where he served as an assistant coach from 1970 to 1973. He then coached wrestling at Medford High School in Medford, Oregon, and locally at Thomas Downey High School in Modesto, Ceres High School and Riverbank High School.

For more information contact the MJC Physical, Recreational and Health Education Division at 575-6269 or email Dr. Bill Kaiser, division dean and director of athletics at kaiserw@mjc.edu.