Retired United States Navy Admiral Richard W. Mies, who served as Commander in Chief of the United States Strategic Command, lettered in wrestling as a freshman at Ohio State University before transferring to the United States Naval Academy in 1963.

Mies was an Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association champion at 152 pounds as a senior in 1967 and was a member of Navy's EIWA dual meet championship team in 1966. He was also the recipient of the Thompson Trophy presented for contributing the most to the promotion of athletics at the Naval Academy.

Wrestling for Lane Tech College Prep High School, he was a medalist all four years at the City Public League Championships, including winning the championship at 95 pounds as a freshman, and helped Lane Tech win the team title as a senior.

After graduating from the Naval Academy with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, ranking first in both academic and lineal seniority in his class, Mies was a graduate student at Oxford University in the United Kingdom.

Upon completion of his submarine training duty, Mies served on two nuclear attack submarines as well as a ballistic submarine. He commanded nuclear attack submarine USS Sea Devil and was involved in nuclear power training, reactor control, weapons, nuclear propulsion, guided missile school, and undersea warfare.

Mies held U.S. and Allied commands at senior military levels, and is one of the few flag officers to complete qualification as both a submariner and a naval aviation observer.

Mies, who became a rear admiral in 1993 and an admiral in 1998, served as commander in chief of U.S. Strategic Command after serving as commander of Submarine Group Mediterranean and Submarine Force Atlantic.

Mies received numerous awards and commendations, including the defense distinguished service medal, the Navy distinguished service medal, the defense superior service medal, the national intelligence distinguished service medal, the Navy commendation medal, and the Navy achievement medal.

Following his retirement from the Navy, he served as CEO and president of The Mies Group while also serving as chairman of the department of defense threat reduction advisory committee, the board of the Navy mutual aid association, and the naval submarine league.

Mies was also a member of the National Academy of Sciences committee for international security and arms control and a member of the board of governors for the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Mies was honored as an Outstanding American by the Illinois Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2009.