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F&M Wrestling Scholarships

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The 2023-2024 season marked 100 years since the founding of F&M Wrestling, the College’s only NCAA Division I sport. This historic moment arrived alongside a new opportunity for F&M: the ability to offer athletic scholarships for specific sports for the first time in more than 65 years.

Empower Champions: Support F&M Wrestling

F&M Wrestling Scholarship Endowment
Franklin & Marshall seeks at least $1.6 million to fully fund an endowment for wrestling scholarships. F&M seeks leadership philanthropic commitments of $100,000 — and gifts of all sizes are appreciated as we work toward our goal of $1.6 million. Make your Wrestling Scholarship Endowment gift today.

Challenge Gifts
When F&M secures $1.1 million in wrestling scholarship endowment commitments, an additional $500,000 to the endowment will be unlocked thanks to F&M Trustees Dave Lehman ’68, P’01, Ray Sanseverino ’68, Ken Mehlman ’88 and Matt DesChamps ’93.

Learn how you can elevate the future of F&M Women’s
Squash, strengthening our sport and providing critical
recruiting and retention support for our Diplomats.
Contact Katie Crowe Wood, director of parent and athletic
advancement, at 717-358-4834 or katie.wood@fandm.edu.

A Tradition of Excellence

F&M Wrestling has a storied tradition of excellence and success — including nearly 700 dual meet victories, nine undefeated seasons, four individual national champions, and 16 All-Americans. The College is a member of the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association, the oldest and largest Division I wrestling conference in the nation, and F&M is consistently ranked as one of the top-performing academic teams in the country.

Recent changes to NCAA regulations permit multi-divisional institutions like F&M to provide athletic scholarships to students participating in Division I sports. Prior rules prohibited F&M, which conducts most of its sports in Division III, from offering athletic scholarships.

Diplomat Athletics is an integral part of the student experience at Franklin & Marshall and has been part of the College’s culture for nearly 150 years. By creating and growing endowed wrestling scholarships, donors can help position F&M as an even more compelling option among other competitive Division I programs.

These investments will allow F&M Wrestling to recruit the most academically promising student-athletes, strategically grow a roster of wrestlers across weight classes, and allow F&M to compete at the highest levels of the sport.

F&M Wrestler competing during the 2023 Lehman Open
A photo of an F&M wrestler during a match.
Photo of an F&M wrestler during the Lehman Open.

F&M Wrestling History

1920s

  • 1923: F&M recruits the College’s first intercollegiate wrestling team; the first bouts take place in February 1924.

1930s

  • 1938-39: F&M hosts the NCAA wrestling championship thanks to the efforts of Coach Charlie Mayser.

1940s

  • 1948: F&M joins the Eastern Wrestling Intercollegiate Athletic Association and remains a member to this day.

1950s

  • 1956: Aligning with other academically rigorous institutions of the time, the F&M Board of Trustees elects not to award athletic scholarships.

1970s

  • 1974: F&M Wrestling chooses to compete in the newly created NCAA Division I rather than Division III, generally designated for smaller colleges.

1990s

  • 1995: Thanks to alumni support, the W. Roy Phillips ’34 Wrestling Coach Endowment is established, endowing the wrestling coach position at F&M.

2010s

  • 2010: Mike Rogers begins his first year as Wrestling Head Coach; Rogers is the third-longest-serving wrestling coach in College history.
  • 2014: David Lehman ’68 makes a $5 million gift to fully endow Franklin & Marshall’s wrestling program.

2020s

  • 2023: F&M begins fundraising for wrestling scholarships for the first time, building upon a strong legacy.
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