MADISON, Wis. — The National Wrestling Hall of Fame - Florida Chapter has announced that Wisconsin wrestling head coach Chris Bono will be inducted with the Class of 2023.
Hailing from Jacksonville, Fla., Bono will be inducted for Lifetime Service along with Sean Ballard, Don Knauf, Samuel T. Pruitt, Saul F. Tejada and Donald Weekley. The Honors Weekend event will be held in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on August 25-26 at the Wyndham Lake Buena Vista Resort.
Bono will begin his sixth season coaching the Badgers this fall and has compiled a 41-28 record at Wisconsin in five seasons at the helm in the nation's toughest wrestling conference — the Big Ten. Bono is 144-86 overall record in 14 seasons as a head coach after stints at Chattanooga and South Dakota State.
Bono has coached six Badgers to 11 All-America honors. Most recently, sophomore Dean Hamiti earned his second national honor at 165 pounds in consecutive seasons and Trent Hillger earned his fourth All-America honor, the only UW heavyweight in school history to do so.
Both Hamiti (165) and Austin Gomez (149) have also earned the Badgers' Big Ten titles during the past two seasons, earning back-to-back league honors under Bono's tenure and the first titles since 2016. „In total, Bono and the Badgers have qualified 32 wrestlers for the NCAA Championships in past five seasons and Wisconsin set a new record for highest single dual attendance (vs. Iowa, Jan. 22, 2023 – 5,256) during the past season at the UW Field House.
Bono was an NCAA champion, three-time NCAA All-American and a two-time Big 12 champion for Iowa State with a career college record of 128-34. He placed fifth at the NCAA championships as a sophomore in 1995 before winning the 150-pound crown in 1996 and placing second in 1997. Bono was a member of U.S. freestyle World championships teams in 2001, 2002 and 2005 and was a four-time freestyle national champion. He was also a three-time state wrestling champion for Bolles High School in Jacksonville from 1990-92.
Bono was previously inducted in 2018 into the Glen Brand Hall of Fame, located inside the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Waterloo, Iowa. UW associate head coach Jon Reader also just recently inducted into the Glen Brand Hall of Fame this month as a member of the Class of 2023. The Glen Brand Hall of Fame honors those individuals who have made an impact on the sport on a national level or who have done extraordinary work in the state of Iowa.
