William Roy Kerslake (December 27, 1929 – September 29, 2015)William Kerslake's obituary
/ref> was an American Olympic heavy weight

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 ...

and retired

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

engineer. During his collegiate years at

Case Institute of Technology Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a Private university, private research university in Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location i ...

, known today as Case Western Reserve University, he was a three sport varsity athlete in wrestling, football, and track. In 1951, he was voted

's "outstanding athlete." Kerslake was a member of

Sigma Alpha Epsilon Sigma Alpha Epsilon (), commonly known as SAE, is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. It was founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national social fraternities today, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is t ...

fraternity. Kerslake won 15 consecutive national championships in Freestyle and Greco-Roman. He won a gold medal in the 1955 Pan American Games and represented the United States three times in the Olympic Games, placing fifth, eighth and seventh from 1952 through 1960. At the 1956 National Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Greco-Roman Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Kerslake achieved a record setting fastest pin, taking only 4 seconds to pin his heavy weight opponent Ralph Bartleman. This feat was captured in the 1986 Guinness Book of World Records in the sports section under “Fastest Pin in National Tournament Competition”. Throughout his wrestling career, and afterward, he was an aerospace research engineer for NASA.Case's Three-Time Olympian and Rocket Scientist
/ref> He was the co-inventor of the first

ion thruster An ion thruster, ion drive, or ion engine is a form of electric propulsion used for spacecraft propulsion. It creates thrust by accelerating ions using electricity. An ion thruster ionizes a neutral gas by extracting some electrons out of ...

for space propulsion and served as chairman of the technical committee of the

AIAA The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of t ...

References

Olympic wrestlers of the United States Wrestlers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 1956 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 1960 Summer Olympics American male sport wrestlers 1929 births 2015 deaths Case Western Spartans football players Pan American Games medalists in wrestling Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Wrestlers at the 1955 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1955 Pan American Games {{US-wrestling-bio-stub