Bob Justice (2016) - CU Athletic Hall of Fame - University of Colorado Athletics

Bob Justice

Induction:
2016
Class:
1969

As a junior, he was the 1968 NCAA champion in the 177-pound class, going 5-0 in the tournament at Penn State (defeated Mankato State’s Larry Amundson 4-2 in the final, when Amundson came in outpointing his opponents, 29-6) ... That win helped CU to tie for 14th in the team standings ... He injured a shoulder in training just ahead of the NCAA’s, suffering a partial separation but refused to see the trainer so he could compete ... He was the Big 8 runner-up in the weight class (losing 5-1 to the 1967 NCAA champion, one of the premier wrestlers of the time period, Oklahoma State’s Fred Fozzard, whom he upset 4-0 in the national semifinals); he was 4-1-3 in conference action and 22-3-3 overall for the season ... He was 10-2-1 as a sophomore before his season was interrupted due to mononucleosis (9-0-1 at the time he became ill) ... Owned a career mark of 32-5-4 as his career was cut short by a serious knee injury his senior year, otherwise he may very well have been a two-time NCAA champion ... He won the Great Plains Tournament title in the summer of 1965, also at the 177-pound weight ... A graduate of Denver’s Abraham Lincoln High School, he was the Denver Public Schools champion and the Colorado state champion as a senior in 1965 (180-lbs.) and was the runner-up in both the previous year – at 145 pounds ... Graduated from CU in 1970 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering (and earned an MBA in Finance from CU-Colorado Springs in 1977) ...