The National Wrestling Hall of Fame on Thursday announced that its Class of 2026 is Distinguished Members Ben Askren, Tervel Dlagnev, Lee Roy Smith and Shannon Williams-Yancey; Meritorious Official honoree Zach Errett; Order of Merit recipient James L. Porter, MA, LAT, ATC; Medal of Courage recipient Patrick Morrissey; and Outstanding American honoree Retired United States Army Major General Michael J. Nardotti, Jr. 

“The National Wrestling Hall of Fame is honored to announce the Class of 2026, an illustrious group whose enduring contributions exemplify the foundational principles of our sport. Every Hall of Fame class is special, but this one is even more so as it includes Lee Roy Smith, who will be retiring next year after more than 20 years of superb leadership as executive director of the Hall of Fame,” said John Harris III, National Wrestling Hall of Fame Board of Governors Chairman. “These individuals have demonstrated exemplary leadership, discipline, and commitment, both on and off the mat, thereby advancing the legacy and cultural integrity of wrestling.” 

The Hall of Fame’s Board of Governors approved the selections at their annual fall meeting on October 28. 

The Class of 2026 will be honored and officially inducted during the 49th Honors Weekend on June 5 and 6, 2026 in Stillwater, Oklahoma. For more information on Honors Weekend, please telephone (405) 377-5243. 

Askren, Dlagnev and Williams-Yancey were chosen as Distinguished Members for the Modern Era while Smith was selected by the Veterans Committee. The newest honorees will bring the number of Distinguished Members to 220, since the Hall of Fame began in 1976. 

Williams-Yancey becomes the seventh female to be inducted as a Distinguished Member, joining Clarissa Chun (2022), Kristie Davis (2018), Sara McMann (2022), Patricia Miranda (2023), Toccara Montgomery (2024) and Tricia Saunders (2006). 

Smith becomes the third member of his family to be inducted as a Distinguished Member, joining brothers John Smith and Pat Smith, who were inducted in 1997 and 2006, respectively. The Smiths are the second family to have three Distinguished Members, joining the Peery family: father Rex Peery, inducted in the Charter Class of 1976, and brothers Ed Peery and Hugh Peery, both inducted in 1980. There are seven other sets of brothers who have been inducted as Distinguished Members: Ed Banach (1993) and Lou Banach (1994); Tom Brands (2001) and Terry Brands (2006); Stanley Henson (1978) and Josiah Henson (2006); Cliff Keen (1976) and Paul Keen (1977); Ben Peterson (1986) and John Peterson (1986); Bill Scherr (1998) and Jim Scherr (2002); and Dave Schultz (1997) and Mark Schultz (1995). Jim Keen received the Order of Merit award in 2004 while Stefan Banach was honored as an Outstanding American in 2024.

Errett’s father, David Errett, was honored as a Meritorious Official in 2019. The Erretts become the second father and son to be recognized, joining Dr. Pat McCormick and Dr. Michael McCormick Jr., who were honored in the Charter Class of 1994 and 2011, respectively. 

Smith becomes the 39th Distinguished Member from Oklahoma State University, which has more Distinguished Members than any other college. Dlagnev becomes the first Distinguished Member from the University of Nebraska-Kearney and Askren becomes the first Distinguished Member from the University of Missouri. Iowa has the second most Distinguished Members with 18 followed by Iowa State University and the University of Oklahoma tied for third with 14 each. 

Distinguished Members can be a wrestler who has achieved extraordinary success in national and/or international competition; a coach who has demonstrated great leadership in the profession and who has compiled an outstanding record; or a contributor whose long-term activities have substantially enhanced the development and advancement of the sport. Wrestlers must have been retired from active competition for a period of five years to be eligible for consideration as a Distinguished Member. 

Ben Askren was a two-time national champion and a four-time NCAA finalist for the University of Missouri and also competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Following runner-up finishes as a freshman and sophomore, Askren won 87 consecutive matches as a junior and senior while capturing back-to-back national titles in 2006 and 2007. The 87 wins in a row ranks in the Top 10 in NCAA history. Askren had a career record of 153-7, including 93 wins by fall and an NCAA record of pinning 18 consecutive opponents in the first period. In 2006 and 2007, Askren received the Dan Hodge Trophy, which is presented annually to the top college wrestler and referred to as the Heisman Trophy of wrestling, and the Wade Schalles Award, presented annually to college wrestling’s best pinner. Hodge and Schalles are both Distinguished Members of the Hall of Fame. He became the first Missouri wrestler to be a four-time All-American and the first to compete in the Olympics. Named the Outstanding Wrestler at the 2006 NCAA Championships, Askren was a three-time Big 12 Conference champion and four-time finalist while also being a four-time Big 12 Conference All-Academic selection. He was a two-time Wisconsin state wrestling champion and a three-time All-American for Arrowhead High School in Hartland, Wisconsin. Askren teamed up with his brother, Max Askren, and their high school wrestling coach, John Mesenbrink, to found Askren Wrestling Academy in 2011. It has grown into one of the biggest, and some would argue the best, clubs in America. AWA has produced 162 Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association state champions and three NCAA Division I champions, Parker Keckeisen, Mitchell Mesenbrink and Keegan O’Toole. He underwent a double lung transplant in June of 2025 after being diagnosed with necrotizing pneumonia, a rare and severe version of the illness that destroys the lungs. Askren was released from the hospital on July 22 and has been recovering at home. 

Tervel Dlagnev is an Olympic bronze medalist, a two-time World bronze medalist and a two-time NCAA Division II champion. One of the nation’s best heavyweight freestyle wrestlers in history, he was born in Bulgaria and moved to the United States with his family when he was four years old. Troubled and out of shape as a kid, he initially began wrestling during his sophomore year at Arlington High School in Arlington, Texas, as a way to lose weight. After finishing fourth at the Texas state tournament as a junior and third as a senior, Dlagnev walked on at the University of Nebraska-Kearney. Following a sixth-place finish at the NCAA DII tournament as a freshman, he reached the finals as a sophomore and then won back-to-back titles as a junior and senior in 2007 and 2008. As a senior he was named the inaugural NCAA DII Wrestler of the Year after going 49-0 and not allowing a single offensive point while helping UNK win its first-ever team national championship. The two-time Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Wrestler of the Year secured the team title by winning his final collegiate match, which was his 71st consecutive win and allowed him to repeat at national champion. He set school records with 167 career wins and 49 wins in a season while also being a four-time RMAC champion and a four-time Academic All-American. Dlagnev won the Midlands Championships in 2006 and was one of the few non-Division I wrestlers to compete in the National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Star Classic, defeating Wade Sauer of Cal-State Fullerton, 11-7. After originally placing fifth at the 2012 London Olympics, Dlagnev was awarded the bronze medal in 2019 after Artur Taymazov was stripped of his gold medal for testing positive for a banned substance. He returned to the Olympics in 2016 and placed fifth in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He won bronze medals at the World Championships in 2009 and 2014 while placing fifth in 2011 and 2013. He won the U.S. World Team Trials in 2015, but was unable to compete in the World Championships due to injury. He was a two-time gold medalist and a bronze medalist at the Alexander Medved International, and a 2011 Pan American Games and 2008 University World Champion. Dlagnev has been an assistant coach at the University of Nebraska since 2023, after serving as the team’s volunteer assistant in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He worked as an assistant coach at Ohio State University and also worked with athletes at the Ohio Regional Training Center from 2016 to 2022. He is a member of the NCAA Division II Wrestling Hall of Fame and the UNK Athletics Hall of Fame, and USA Wrestling presented him with the John Smith Award as the Freestyle Wrestler of the Year in 2014. 

Lee Roy Smith began wrestling in the fourth grade, beginning what would grow into a family sports dynasty in the state of Oklahoma and across the globe. He was the first two-time Oklahoma state champion from Del City High School, compiling an overall record of 71-3 and being named Outstanding Wrestler at the state tournament as a senior. The first Oklahoma wrestler to win two National Junior Freestyle Championships, Smith was an NCAA champion, three-time All-American and four-time Big Eight Conference champion for Oklahoma State University. He was the first wrestler in OSU's storied history to reach 100 wins and was named OSU Athletics Athlete of the Year in 1980. Smith won three National Open Freestyle Championships, twice being named Outstanding Wrestler, and won the 1984 Olympic Trials. After being unable to compete at the 1982 World Championships due to injury, he was a silver medalist at the 1983 World Championships and the 1983 and 1984 World Cup. An assistant coach at OSU from 1984-1987, Smith helped recruit his younger brother John and coached him to two All-America finishes and his first NCAA title in 1987. He was a member of the Swiss Wrestling Federation national coaching staff and head coach of the Martigny Wrestling Club from 1987 to 1989. Smith played an instrumental role in the Swiss National Team having its best finish ever at the Freestyle World Championships in 1989, and he led Martigny to a runner-up national finish in 1988, its first top-three finish in over 10 years. Smith returned to America to become USA Wrestling’s National Freestyle Coach, a position he held from 1989 to 1992. He coached six World champions, three Olympic gold medalists, 10 World silver medalists, two Olympic silver medalists, a World bronze medalist and an Olympic bronze medalist. In 1992, with younger brother John and fellow Oklahomans and fellow Distinguished Members Kendall Cross and Kenny Monday on the team, Smith led the United States to its best Olympic finish with three gold medals, two silver medals and a bronze medal while all 10 wrestlers finished in the top seven. He coached the U.S. to its first dual meet victory on Soviet soil in Mogilev, Belarus on January 20, 1990, and led American teams to two championships and a runner-up finish at the World Cup. Smith became the head wrestling coach at Arizona State University in 1992, a position he held until 2001. He had a career record of 91-58-1 with three NCAA champions, 28 All-Americans and 27 Pac-10 Conference champions. Smith led ASU to five Top 10 finishes at the NCAA Division I Championships and five Pac-10 Conference team titles. He was named National Rookie Coach of the Year in 1993 and Pac-10 Conference Coach of the Year four times. During his tenure, the wrestling team achieved the highest graduation rate of any sport at ASU. A member of the broadcast team for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and 2000 Sydney Olympics, Smith also served as a color commentator for Big 12 Conference Championships and Oklahoma State broadcasts. The executive director of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame since 2004, Smith has steered the organization from the brink of bankruptcy to financial solvency, including the acquisition of the Dan Gable Museum in Waterloo, Iowa. In the last decade, he has spearheaded capital campaigns for state-of-the-art renovations for the museums, $3.8 million in Stillwater and $1.5 million in Waterloo. Smith helped create the Hall of Fame’s Endowment Fund in 2007 and oversaw its growth to $1 Million. He was instrumental in creating the current Power Beyond campaign for the endowment fund, which has received commitments for $4.4 million of its $5 million goal by end of 2026. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 2022 and received the Gallagher Award from Oklahoma State wrestling in 2007. 

Shannon Williams-Yancey was a four-time World silver medalist and competed in seven World Championships. She reached the finals at the World Championships in 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1997 while finishing fourth in 1990 and 1995 and fifth in 1996. A six-time World Team Trials champion and a four-time U.S. National champion, Williams won gold medals at the Pan American Championships in 1993 and 1998 and won the Klippan Open in Sweden in 1993, 1994 and 1996. USA Wrestling named Williams-Yancey its Women's Wrestler of the Year in 1994 and she became the first female featured on the cover of USA Wrestler magazine. The daughter of a wrestler, she competed for two years on the boys team at Chaffey High School in Ontario, California. While preparing for women's international tournaments, she would work out with men's wrestlers from Lassen Junior College and Chico State. She was an assistant coach for the United States at the 1999 Women's World Championships, which was the first U.S. women's team to win the World team title. Sandra Bacher and Tricia Saunders won gold medals while Kristie Davis also reached the finals. Williams-Yancey competed in 1992 on American Gladiators and advanced to the quarterfinals. She was an assistant coach for the boys team at Wooster High School in Nevada and was head coach of the all-girls team at Thousand Oaks High School in California. One of the original female members of the Sunkist Kids wrestling club, she also served on USA Wrestling's Board of Directors. Williams-Yancey has been a lifetime advocate of women's wrestling and a popular girls wrestling tournament in California is named in her honor, the Williams Cup. She currently coaches wrestling while also teaching yoga and self-defense classes at Heritage High School in Brentwood. Heritage boasts one of the largest rosters of female wrestlers in the state of California. 

The Medal of Courage recipient is a wrestler or former wrestler who has overcome what appear to be insurmountable challenges, providing inspiration to others. 

Patrick Morrissey wrestled three years for Durango High School and had a career record of 62-10, including 26-0 as a senior in 1989 when he won the Colorado state wrestling championship for Durango High School as a senior after reaching the state finals as a junior. He was named to the Colorado All-State wrestling team in 1989 and earned All-America honors with a seventh-place finish in Greco-Roman at the 1988 Junior Nationals. He continued his wrestling career at California Polytechnic State University and was a starter for four years. Morrissey finished second at the Las Vegas Hall of Fame Collegiate Wrestling Invitational in 1992 and third at the Pac-10 Conference tournament in 1994 to qualify for the NCAA Division I Championships. After winning his opening match at 142 pounds, Morrissey lost to eventual runner-up Gerry Abas of Fresno State, 5-2, in the second round. He won his first two matches in the consolation bracket and ultimately lost his last match to become All-American to Jon Hughes of Penn State, 9-5, and finished in the top 12. After college, Morrissey moved back to Durango and began his engineering career. After 12 years as a consulting engineer, he made a change and became the engineering manager for a real estate investment company. Over the next 10 years, he worked his way up, and became President/COO in 2017. Two years after taking on his new leadership role, Morrissey was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s disease at 48 years old. Parkinson’s is a progressive non-curable neurological disorder that affects movement. It is caused by the gradual loss of dopamine-producing cells in the brain. Initially he kept his diagnosis private but a good friend, Brendan Cusick, who knew about the diagnosis asked Morrissey to be a spokesperson for Human Powered Potential (HPP). HPP was participating in The World’s Toughest Row – Pacific. HPP was a four-person team intent on rowing a 28-foot boat for 24 hours a day for 2,800 miles across the Pacific Ocean from California to Hawaii. The journey would have two people rowing at a time and switching tandems every two hours. The row would be in partnership with the Michael J Fox Foundation (MJFF) to raise money for Parkinson’s research. Morrissey agreed, thinking this would be a great way to begin to share his diagnosis and bring awareness to Parkinson’s. As the group was training in California in early 2023, the HPP team was still looking for a fourth rower. Remembering his wrestling training, Morrissey knew that he could do it. He spoke with Cusick and they decided that Morrissey would become the fourth member of Human Powered Potential. Morrissey then began 18 months of rigorous training that included daily strength, stretching, aerobic and anaerobic conditioning and monthly training on the boat for team coordination. The row began on June 8, 2024 in Monterey, California. Facing 30+ foot waves and 40-50 mph winds, the four-man crew rowed 24 hours a day for 41 days, in two-man, two-hour shifts. Despite his preparation, he still had trouble keeping medications down due to seasickness and the physical and mental strain worsened his tremors and coordination loss. Not to be denied, Morrissey and his team reached the finish line in Kauai, Hawaii on July 19, 2024. Morrissey was the first person diagnosed with Parkinson’s to row the Mid Pacific. In addition to overcoming Parkinson’s-related obstacles, Morrissey and HPP raised over $41 million for Parkinson’s research, thanks to an anonymous donor who agreed to match all of the team’s more than 26,000 individual donations 3:1. In the end, Pat’s wrestling training and background proved critical to an incredibly courageous and enormously successful accomplishment. In 2024, due to his Parkinson’s, Morrissey retired as the President/COO of GF Properties Group. Morrissey has recently joined the MJFF Patient Council and is determined to continue the HPP mission to help find a cure for Parkinson’s Disease by performing or supporting adventure philanthropy. He and his wife, Dena, have been married for 31 years and have two wonderful daughters, Lauran and Mara. 

The Order of Merit is presented to an individual that has made a significant contribution to the sport of wrestling, but who is not an athlete or a coach. The Order of Merit recipient is determined in a vote of Distinguished Members. 

James L. Porter, MA, LAT, ATC has worked as a medical provider for USA Wrestling for 45 years and also as an athletic trainer at the youth, high school and college level for 53 years. He served as tournament medical coordinator for eight FILA/United World Wrestling world championships, nine United States Olympic Team Trials, 32 USA Wrestling Junior National Championships, 30 USA Wrestling World Team Trials, 35 USA Opens and nine World Cups. Porter worked at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. He worked the Pan American Games, the Pan American Championships, and numerous international wrestling tournaments. Porter was awarded the FILA Gold Star Award in 2012 for outstanding service to FILA, becoming the only USA medical provider in history to receive the distinguished honor. He also worked as a wrestling coach and athletic trainer at North Linn High School and South Tama High School in Iowa, and as a volunteer coach at Drake University in 1980-81. Porter was the director of sports medicine for Athletes in Action wrestling from1981 to 1985. He was the tournament medical coordinator for the Cliff Keen Collegiate Wrestling Tournament from 1983 to 2023, and for the NAIA Wrestling Championships in 1976, 1977 and 1979. Porter was the medical coordinator for the Concord Cup International Greco-Roman tournament from 1983 to 1999. Highlights of his career include being the medical coordinator for the 1984 Olympic Training Camp in Big Bear, California, and pre-event training camps for the 2003 and 2015 World Championships. He is scheduled to work as medical coordinator at the U23 World Championships in 2026 and the Senior World Championships in 2027, both hosted in Las Vegas. Porter began working as a medical coordinator for USA Wrestling national events in 1999 and authored and taught the medical tournament coordinator guidelines. He served on USA Wrestling's Sports Science and Sports Medicine and Concussion Management committees. Porter is a featured speaker on management of bleeding on the mat and identification of infectious vs. inflammation of skin infection in athletics for boxing, mixed-martial arts and wrestling. He opened and managed a sports medicine clinic at the Xtreme Couture MMA gym until 2018. In November, Porter will receive the Lifetime Service to Wrestling award from the Nevada Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, which he played in instrumental role in reestablishing in 2023. 

The Meritorious Official award recognizes outstanding service as a referee, judge, or pairing official. 

Zach Errett worked as a referee at the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and from 2002 to 2022 was a referee at the Senior World Championships and the United States Olympic Trials. A licensed USA Wrestling Officials Association referee for more than 30 years and a United World Wrestling referee for more than 20 years, he was a UWW referee instructor and a member of the referee commission. Instrumental in the development of the "Referee Education Pathway" for UWW, Errett has served as UWW Education Manager since 2018 and has developed three courses for the training of national referees for national federations and was influential in starting the Referee Scholarship Program. He has delivered coaching and referee courses to national federations as a UWW educator since 2016. In 2010, Errett was awarded the Golden Whistle by FILA/UWW at the Senior World Championships and he was also named USA Wrestling Officials Association Official of the Year. He received the Mort Geller award, which is presented to an individual who has demonstrated outstanding officiating skills on the International level and who is recognized as an outstanding clinician on the national level, from the USWOA in 2013. USWOA presented him with the Glen Blackman Award, awarded to a new official who is working to improve and for recognition of outstanding accomplishments as a mat official and contributions to USA Wrestling, in 2000. The award is now called the Zach Errett Award. Errett was also awarded the Phil Portuese award, which is presented to an individual who has gone above and beyond the normal to teach to the art of officiating, in 2014. The award is now named for Zach's father and is the Dave Errett Award. Zach served as a member of the USA Wrestling Officials Association Executive Board from 2013 to 2023. Errett has also served as the head wrestling coach and assistant football coach while also teaching science at Mooresville High School in Mooresville, Indiana from 2002 to 2013. He coached one Indiana state high school wrestling champion and four state place-winners while accumulating more than 100 dual meet victories. He was named Mid-State Conference Coach of the Year after leading his team to the conference championship in 2007, and was named Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association Regional Coach of the Year in 2010. Errett served as the athletic director at Mooresville High School from 2013 to 2016, during which Mooresville hosted the Indiana High School Athletic Association sectional and regional wrestling tournaments and the 24-team Mooresville Holiday Classic. After Mooresville, he was the head wrestling coach and taught science at Avon High School in Avon, Indiana from 2016 to 2021. At Avon, Errett coached three Indiana state high school wrestling champions and 10 state place-winners. He was named Hoosier Crossroads Coach of the Year after leading his team to a runner-up finish at the state tournament in 2019. Errett has taught science at South Putnam High School in Greencastle, Indiana since 2021. He wrestled for his father, David Errett, at Martinsville High School and had a career record of 104-25. 

The Outstanding American award is presented to those individuals who have used the disciplines of wrestling to launch notable careers in other walks of life, such as science and technology, business and industry, government and the military, and the arts and humanities. 

Retired United States Army Major General Michael J. Nardotti, Jr. wrestled four years at the United States Military Academy at West Point and was a member of the varsity starting lineup at Uniondale High School in Uniondale, New York from his sophomore year until graduation. He earned All-America honors at 160 pounds with a sixth-place finish at the 1968 NCAA Division I Championships. After losing in a preliminary round pigtail match to top seed Cleo McGlory of Oklahoma, Nardotti won three matches in a row in the consolation bracket. In eight years of competition from junior high school through college, he never had a losing season and was only pinned once, at the NCAA tournament. Nardotti received the highest total scholarships awarded in his class with appointments to West Point and the United States Naval Academy and partial scholarships to Lehigh University and Dartmouth College. He received his bachelor's degree in general engineering from West Point and earned his juris doctor from Fordham University School of Law. Nardotti was a Top 10 Leader at West Point as a sophomore, junior and senior, and held the Top 10 Permanent Leadership position for his senior class of 800 cadets. He served as the Cadet Commander of the 1st Regiment of the United States Corps of Cadets and as the Secretary of the Honor Committee. While on convalescent leave while recovering from combat wounds in Vietnam, Nardotti served as a volunteer assistant wrestling coach at Uniondale High School before returning to active military duty. Upon his return to military duty, Nardotti served as a wrestling instructor and Plebe coach at West Point and also worked as an assistant varsity coach for Army coach and National Wrestling Hall of Fame Distinguished Member LeRoy Alitz. Nardotti is a decorated combat veteran who served over 28 years on active duty as a soldier in the Army. He was inducted into the United States Army Ranger Hall of Fame, which serves the exclusive purpose of honoring and preserving the contributions of America’s most extraordinary Rangers, in 2006. His induction was based on his actions in the Republic of Vietnam, leading a combat extraction of a Long-Range Reconnaissance Patrol of Rangers in distress. Nardotti was wounded in that action and was awarded the Purple Heart and the Silver Star medal, the nation’s third-highest award for gallantry in action. He was also awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Army’s highest award for service, and the Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal (four awards), Air Medal, Army Commendation Medal (two awards), one with valor device), Vietnam Gallantry Cross (Unit Citation), National Defense Service Medal (with one Bronze Service Star), Vietnam Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, and Vietnam Campaign Medal. He served as the Army Judge Advocate General from 1993-97. As the Judge Advocate General, he was the senior military lawyer in the Army and the senior partner of one of the world’s largest law firms, the Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps.  Nardotti provided advice and counsel to the Army’s senior military and civilian leaders on extremely sensitive, very complex, and highly visible legal and policy issues. These matters included matters in criminal and civil litigation, matters of high interest to Congress and the media, and matters of extraordinary concern to the Army and the Department of Defense in the investigative and senior official misconduct areas. Nardotti advised, counseled, negotiated, mediated, and advocated at all levels within the Army, the Department of Defense, the Military Services, the Department of Justice, and with Members of Congress. His team of over 4,000 full-time and part-time military and civilian lawyers and 5,000 full-time and part-time military and civilian administrative personnel was responsible for providing comprehensive worldwide legal support to a community of over one million family members. Following retirement from active duty after over 28 years, Nardotti practiced law with a private firm for over twenty-four years and veteran pro bono work played an important role. He received special recognition from his firm and from a national Veterans' service organization for distinguished pro bono service. Nardotti also served multiple years on the boards or councils of six Veterans service and charitable organizations.