Chris Traicoff Biography

CHRIS TRAICOFF ( 1917 – 1989 )

One of the toughest high school wrestling tournaments in the state of Indiana bears his name. Today, more than 20 years since his passing, the sport he helped establish at Calumet High School in 1939 is showcased in what CHS coach Jim Wadkins calls the “Premier Dual Meet Invitational in Indiana, maybe even the toughest day of wrestling outside of the Team State Championships themselves. It would have definitely met with Chris’s approval, I am sure of that.” But just

[caption id=attachment_3706" align="alignleft" width="210" caption="Chris Traicoff][/caption]

who exactly was this Chris Traicoff character and why did Calumet name its wrestling meet after him…especially since he made his mark in Calumet Region sports as their cross-country and basketball coach?

The 1935 Calumet Twp. valedictorian played basketball in high school because CTHS had no wrestling program. His interest in the sport of wrestling was sparked by his new basketball coach George Belshaw ( a Lowell, IN native and Indiana University wrestler under legendary Coach Billy Thom who won both a Big Ten and an AAU National title in the early 1930’s) who took the teaching and coaching job in the midst of the Depression. Chris said of Belshaw in a 1974 interview with Gary Post-Tribune sportswriter John Mutka, “He took me to a couple of high school wrestling meets in Hammond, then introduced me to Billy Thom”. Thom coached the Hoosiers to 7 Big Ten Titles and the 1932 NCAA Championship as well as the US Olympic Freestyle Wrestling team at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. “In my freshman year I got beat up pretty badly, but that was an all senior team and I made it as a sophomore. Our competition at Indiana, just to make the team, was greater than we encountered in 95% of our matches.” Traicoff lost only one dual meet in three years and won IU’s Balfour Award twice. In 1938, his junior year, he was a Big 10 Runner-up and placed 3rd at the NCAA’s to earn All-America honors. In 1939, his senior year, he went unbeaten (10-0) and won the Big 10 & NCAA Championships at 175 lbs. He beat New York City College’s (CCNY), Henry Wittenberg, in his NCAA Title match, in a grueling overtime match that was decided by referee’s decision. Wittenberg continued wrestling in the international styles, and after World War II, won a Gold Medal at the 1948 London Olympic Games.

Traicoff returned to CTHS in the fall of 1939, as a teacher and coach, and began a fledgling wrestling program with 8-10 boys. He scheduled a sketchy dual meet schedule and took every boy to what was then an open State Tournament in 1940. It was a short lived program though, because in 1941 CTHS was closed because of overcrowding and the U.S. entered into World War II. Traicoff served as an instructor in hand-to-hand combat for the U.S. Marine Corps. He later served as an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University for two years prior to returning to the Calumet Region. He also refereed both high school and college wrestling, including a couple of Indiana State Championships and Big 10’s.

He began what would be the second stint of a 32 year career at Calumet in 1947. He taught US Gov’t / Economics, served as Dean of Students, was the Head Basketball Coach, Head Cross-Country Coach, and served as the long time Athletic Director. His basketball teams won 298 games over two decades including four conference titles. His Cross-Country teams won seven straight conference titles, placed in the State’s Top 12 an astonishing 10 times and won the school’s only State Championship in 1965. He served as the driving force behind the construction of the CHS Fieldhouse, today the Gym inside is named in his honor. In 1965, he reestablished wrestling at CHS, and hired its first coach, Rolland Beckham. Today, both Traicoff and Beckham are members of the IHSWCA & Calumet Hall’s of Fame. For his contributions to high school athletics, and impact on the CHS athletic program (especially wrestling) we initiated renaming the Calumet Tourney, the Chris Traicoff Memorial Wrestling Invitational, upon his death in 1989. In 1992, we expanded the field from 8 to 16 teams and today several perennial powerhouses from around the state compete in this prestigious tournament. Traicoff once said of wrestling, “I owe much of my success to the sport of wrestling”. Calumet Wrestling owes much of its success to Chris Traicoff…a true champion and pioneer for the sport at Calumet.