Robert Brooks Weaver Sr. (born December 29, 1958) is an American former

freestyle wrestler Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling. It is one of two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games, along with Greco-Roman wrestling, Greco-Roman. scholastic wrestling, High school wrestling and men's collegiate wrestling in the U ...

. He won a gold medal at 48 kg (105.5 pounds) at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. He also won a silver medal at the 1979 World Championships and was a member of the 1980 Olympic team that

boycotted A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict ...

the

Moscow Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

Wrestling career

High school

Weaver began

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

at the age of six. He attended

Easton Area High School Easton Area High School is a large four-year public high school located in Easton, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley area of eastern Pennsylvania. It is one of nine public schools and the only high school in the Easton Area School District. As ...

Easton, Pennsylvania Easton is a city in and the county seat of Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city's population was 28,127 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Easton is located at the confluence of the Lehigh River and the Delawa ...

, where he won three PIAA state titles. He won in 1975 and 1976 at the 98-pound weight class and in 1977 at the 105-pound weight class. In 1977, Weaver participated in the Dapper Dan Classic, which features the Pennsylvania all-stars against a national team and won by a fall in 0:50. He graduated from Easton High School in 1977 and spent a post-graduate year at

Blair Academy Blair Academy is a coeducational, boarding and day school for students in high school. The school serves students from ninth through twelfth grades as well as a small post-graduate class. The school's campus is located on a campus in Blairst ...

Blairstown, New Jersey Blairstown is a Township (New Jersey), township in Warren County, New Jersey, Warren County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 5,704, a decrease of 263 (−4.4%) from the 2010 Uni ...

. While at Blair, he won the National Prep School Championship and the Outstanding Wrestler trophy.

College

Weaver matriculated at

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU), in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States, is a private university, private research university. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer. Lehigh University's undergraduate programs have been mixed ...

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton and Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Bethle ...

, in the fall of 1978. Competing in college was a challenge for Weaver since the lightest

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

weight class was 118 pounds, which was above his freestyle weight class of 105.5 pounds. He red shirted as a freshman at Lehigh and saw little action the following season. However, he was a starter for Lehigh the next three seasons at the 118 pound class and won conference titles in 1982 and 1983 and finished third in the 1982

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

tournament. He finished his career at Lehigh with a record of 57-14-3 with 16 falls.

Freestyle

Weaver began competing in

freestyle wrestling Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling. It is one of two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games, along with Greco-Roman wrestling, Greco-Roman. scholastic wrestling, High school wrestling and men's collegiate wrestling in the U ...

while still in high school. He caused a sensation at the 1976 Olympic trials when he pinned his first eight opponents. He eventually ended up as the alternate on the Olympic team. Then, just two years out of high school, Weaver finished second at the 1979 world championships in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

. Prior to winning the gold medal at the

in Los Angeles, Weaver won six national freestyle championships, two

FILA Fila (; ) is a South Korean-owned athleisure brand headquartered in Seoul. The company was originally founded by Ettore and Giansevero Fila in 1911 in Coggiola, near Biella, Italy. Fila Korea acquired the brand in 2007 and launched its initial p ...

World Cup gold medals, two World Cup silver medals, gold medals in tournaments in Germany, Poland and Cuba and a silver medal at the demand freestyle tournament in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

. Weaver was a flamboyant winner, especially when he won by

pin A pin is a device, typically pointed, used for fastening objects or fabrics together. Pins can have the following sorts of body: *a shaft of a rigid inflexible material meant to be inserted in a slot, groove, or hole (as with pivots, hinges, an ...

. He was known to jump up and down and do backward somersaults in the air, particularly when he pinned 1976 Olympian William Rosado for the 1980 team berth and when he pinned Takashi Irie in the 1984 Olympic finals. Following his gold medal win in 1984, he circled the arena several times with his young son, Bobby Jr., in his arms. Weaver was inducted into the

National Wrestling Hall of Fame The National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum and hall of fame for amateur wrestling, headquartered in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 2010, it began operating the Dan Gable Museum in Waterloo, Iowa. History The museum was awarded to Stil ...

in 2008 as a Distinguished Member. He missed the ceremonies because of a serious illness, but was able to attend the following year.

Bibliography

* Diehl, Denny. 1997. Mat Power: Lehigh Wrestling Highlights. Roby Publishing. * Moffat, James V. 2007. Wrestlers At The Trials. Exit Zero Publishing.

External links

* * *
Collegiate Record
at

Lehigh Mountain Hawks The Lehigh Mountain Hawks are the college athletics, athletic teams representing Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The Hawks participate in NCAA Division I competition as a member of the Patriot League. In football, Lehigh competes in ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weaver, Bobby 1958 births Living people American male sport wrestlers Sportspeople from Pennsylvania Blair Academy alumni Easton Area High School alumni Lehigh University alumni Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in wrestling Sportspeople from Easton, Pennsylvania World Wrestling Championships medalists Wrestlers at the 1984 Summer Olympics 20th-century American sportsmen