Les Gutches - Wrestling

Les Gutches won championships at every level of wrestling outside of the Olympic Games, becoming one of the state’s top competitors in the process.

Born in Medford in 1973, Gutches grew up in a wrestling family, his father, Les Senior, having won a state title as a youth. Les won three state titles (171, 178 and 191 pounds) at South Medford High between 1989 and ’91, and won a USA Wrestling national title each year as well. He won the FILA Junior World Freestyle competition in 1991.

At Oregon State, Gutches was an All-American in 1994, ’95 and ’96 and won an NCAA title in ’95 and ’96, when he received the Dan Hodge Trophy as the top wrestler in the nation. Gutches won the USA Wrestling national title at 180.5 pounds later in the year and represented the U.S. at the Olympic Summer Games in Atlanta. He finished fifth. Les also won the gold medal in 1997 and the bronze medal in 1999 at the World Championships.

Following the Olympics, he served as an assistant coach at OSU for three years and then again from 2002-06. He also served as an assistant for the U.S. National Team at the 2002 Freestyle World Cup.

Gutches was inducted in the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 2011. He is also an inductee of the Oregon State Athletics Hall of Fame (2003) and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame (2009).