Bill Martell
Greco-Roman Assistant Coach
Martell was the head coach of the 1987 Pan American Games Team, which competed in Indianapolis, Ind. The U.S. team placed second in the
standings, and included three champions and 10 medalists.
He was the head coach of the 1990 U.S. World Team, which competed in Rome, Italy. The U.S. placed eighth in the team standings. He has also
served as Team Leader for the 1991 U.S. World Team in Varna, Bulgaria. Martell was an assistant coach on a number of U.S. World teams, including the 1985 squad, which featured the first U.S. World Champion, Mike Houck.
Martell was a member of the U.S. coaching staff at the last three Olympic Games. He has coached the U.S. World Cup team four times,
including the 1995 squad, which placed third in the standings and included four medalists.
He has coached a number of age group World teams, including the 1980 and 1992 Junior World Teams. Martell has also coached numerous
U.S. teams on tours to foreign nations in recent years.
Martell served as the head coach at at the Univ. of California at Berkeley from 1964-79. He also coached at Diablo Valley College, a
community college in Pleasant Hill, Calif., for three years in the early 1990s. He served as president of the NCAA Coaches Association and the
California Collegiate Coaches Association.
He started his coaching career on the high school level, coaching wrestling, along with other sports, at Grants Pass High School in Grants
Pass, Ore. (1955-61), Mt. Diablo High School in Concord, Calif. (1961-62) and Clayton Valley High School in Concord, Calif. (1962-
64).
Martell created and organized the Concord Cup International, the annual Greco-Roman tournament held in the United States. For 15 years,
top wrestlers from foreign nations and the USA have competed in this major event.
He has served on USA Wrestling's Board of Directors, and has been on a number of USA Wrestling committees. Martell was the National Greco-Roman Chairperson for both the Amateur Athletic Union and USA Wrestling.
He is a retired professor emeritus from the Univ. of California at Berkeley, after 30 years on the faculty. He graduated from Lewis and
Clark College in Oregon and received his master's degree from Southern Oregon College.
Martell attended Lincoln High School in Portland, Ore., where he was all-city in football and baseball, but the school did not have
a wrestling team. He started wrestling in college, and with the Multnomah Athletic Club in Portland, Ore. He was born on March 31, 1933 in
Portland, Ore.
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