Travis Lee (born 1983) is a former

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

wrestler Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat spor ...

at the 125 lbs and 133 lbs

weight class Weight classes are divisions of competition used to match competitors against others of their own size. Weight classes are used in a variety of sports, especially combat sports (such as boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts and wrestling). Alte ...

from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

, where he competed for the

Cornell Big Red wrestling The Cornell Big Red wrestling team represents Cornell University of Ithaca, New York in collegiate wrestling. It is one of the most successful and storied collegiate wrestling programs in the nation with over 20 individual NCAA champions and 42 Iv ...

team under coach Rob Koll. Lee was the first individual NCAA wrestling champion from

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

, winning titles in 2003 and 2005 at 125 lbs and 133 lbs, respectively.

Background and wrestling career

Lee's first sport was

judo is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

, in which he won national junior titles. As a wrestler he won three

state high-school championships and the 2001 Junior National titles in freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. His collegiate record was 143–13, the most wins of any Cornell wrestler at the time. He won the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association conference title four times, and was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year and a two-time Wrestler of the Year. He won the 2003 and 2005 NCAA wrestling championships, losing in the semi-finals in 2004. Lee became the first native born Hawaiian to win a NCAA Division I wrestling title. After college, Lee would wrestle freestyle on the Senior level. He came back from injury to win the Dave Schultz Memorial International in February 2007 with the

New York Athletic Club The New York Athletic Club is a private social club and athletic club in New York state. Founded in 1868, the club has approximately 8,600 members and two facilities: the City House, located at 180 Central Park South in Manhattan, and Traver ...

. A further injury at the Independence Cup in Tashkent, Uzbekistan the following month led Lee to retire from wrestling.

Personal life

Lee is from Liliha,

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

, and he graduated from

Saint Louis School Saint Louis School, located in the neighborhood of Kaimuki in Honolulu, Hawaii, is a historic Roman Catholic college preparatory school for boys. It was founded in 1846 to serve Catholics in the former Kingdom of Hawaii. Located within the Roman ...

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...

. He graduated in biological and environmental engineering from Cornell in 2005, and gained a master's degree in Engineering in 2006. At Cornell, he was also a member of the

Quill and Dagger Quill and Dagger is a senior honor society at Cornell University. It is often recognized as one of the most prominent societies of its type, along with Skull and Bones and Scroll and Key at Yale University. In 1929, ''The New York Times'' stated ...

society. After he graduated he helped coach the Cornell wrestling team and the Finger Lakes Wrestling Club.

References

External links

Saint Louis Alumni Associati on News profile
(also on th
Internet Archive
1983 births Living people Sportspeople from Honolulu Cornell University College of Engineering alumni American male sport wrestlers American bioengineers {{US-wrestling-bio-stub