ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Olympic gold medalist and longtime USA Wrestling Greco-Roman national coach Steve Fraser will join the Cliff Keen Wrestling Club staff as the Chief of Donor and Alumni Relations, the club announced on Monday (Oct. 17) after sharing privately at its annual football tailgate over the weekend. Fraser held the same position with USA Wrestling since retiring from coaching in 2014.

“After graduating from the University of Michigan 42 years ago, I truly am thrilled to come full circle and be back in a position to help my alma mater’s Cliff Keen Wrestling Club,” said Fraser. “Coach [Sean] Bormet, his strong coaching staff and amazing athletes have made all of us alumni very proud with Michigan’s recent successes. I’m grateful to have an opportunity to be a part. Go Blue!”

“There is no one better qualified to serve in the role of Chief of Donor and Alumni Relations for the Cliff Keen Wrestling Club,” said CKWC president Mark Churella. “Steve is a Michigan Man in the best possible way. He checks all the boxes. His success as an athlete, coach and philanthropic relationship skills are outstanding. Steve has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to the sport of wrestling, and we are very fortunate to have him put his talents to work for the Cliff Keen Wrestling Club.”

“From the first time I met Steve as a young Michigan wrestler and throughout my career around the sport at every level, I have felt and admired his passion, tenacity and expertise,” said Michigan head coach Sean Bormet. “He is widely respected throughout the country as a competitor, a coach and, most recently, in donor and alumni engagement. He is revered here at Michigan. We are so excited to have Steve back affiliated with our programs and look forward to working closely with him to expand all areas of our donor and alumni engagement in his new role with the CKWC.”

Fraser, a two-time NCAA All-American during his collegiate career at Michigan (1977-80), became the first American wrestler to ever capture Greco-Roman Olympic gold when he won the 90kg title at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. He won five matches on the way to the title, including a 1-1 criteria decision over Romania’s Ilia Matei in the gold-medal final. He also earned a 4-1 decision over three-time world champion Frank Andersson of Sweden in the semifinals.

Fraser also won a gold medal at the 1983 Pan American Games and was a member of the 1979 and 1982 U.S. world teams. He claimed U.S. nationals titles in Greco-Roman in 1981 and 1983 and was a U.S. Nationals freestyle champion in 1984. He was named USA Wrestling Athlete of the Year in 1984 and was a finalist for the James E. Sullivan Award. Fraser was inducted as a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Michigan Athletics Hall of Honor in 2006.

He spent 19 year as USA Wrestling’s National Greco-Roman Coach (1995-2014) and led Team USA to its only Greco-Roman team title in world championships history when the Americans captured the title in 2007 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The United States won two other world championships team trophies during the Fraser era — third in both 2001 and 2006.

Fraser also served as USA Wrestling’s national coach at five Olympic Games — from the 1996 Atlanta Games to the 2012 London Games. He was in the corner when Rulon Gardner shocked the world by knocking off three-time Olympic champion Alexander Karelin of Russia in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Karelin was unbeaten in international competition before suffering a loss to Gardner in the Olympic final, considered one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history in any sport.

In all, the United States won eight Olympic medals and 15 world medals in Fraser, including four world gold from Dennis Hall (1995), Rulon Gardner (2001), Dremiel Byers (2002) and fellow Wolverine alum Joe Warren (2006).