Jim Ferguson arrived in San Francisco after college and became an integral part of the OC wrestling team which won nine national team championships from 1960 to 1965, three in Freestyle and six in Greco Roman.
He grew up in Oklahoma and, in 1955, was the state high school 157lb champion. He attended Michigan State University, where he was the 1959 Big Ten champion at 167lb and placed third that same year in the NCAA Championship. In 1959, he also won the National AAU championship and the Pan- American Games at 174lbs. After meeting Olympian Frank Rosenmayr during a trip with the U.S. wrestling team to Russia, Jim moved to San Francisco and joined the Club; he is now a fifty-two year member.
Representing the Club, he won the National AAU freestyle 174lb title in 1960, and then finished second behind teammate (and fellow inductee) Russ Camilleri the following year. In 1962, he served as Captain, won the National AAU freestyle 171lb title (persevering over Russ this time), and placed third in Greco Roman. At the World Championships that year, he took bronze in the welterweight class, one of the first medals won by an American in wrestling (fellow Hall of Famer Dan Brand won another). At the time, Coach Bill Smith remarked, “As coach of the U.S. wrestling team, I would have to say that Jim Ferguson was the outstanding United States wrestler in the tournament… Jim displayed the moves in wrestling that exemplified the best qualities of U.S. and European wrestlers.”
Jim returned to the Pan Am Games in 1963 where he again won gold, going undefeated in the 191lb class. He was the first American wrestler to ever win two consecutive gold medals at the Games. He is a member of the California Wrestling Hall of Fame.
