After helping launch kids, junior and adult programs across the state of Illinois, Werner Holzer carried his fight for the development of wrestling into the halls of Chicago's city government. He emerged as founder, fundraiser, athlete and coach for the Mayor Daley Youth Foundation, and led his club to 15 national Freestyle and Greco-Roman titles.

During those same years, 1966 to 1978, Holzer carried out an even greater campaign, a successful challenge to the powerful authority governing amateur wrestling. He played a key role in establishing the U.S. Wrestling Federation, which became the sport's national governing body under the name USA Wrestling. As its president, Holzer guided the organization through its long and bitter struggle for national recognition in arbitration and the courts.

Holzer's leadership continued through the difficult transition years, as he blended a variety of associations and individuals into a unit of the stature necessary to represent this country on the international scene. Among those participating groups was the U. S. Federation of Wrestling Clubs, which Holzer founded back in 1968.

He was coach of the first U. S. team to compete in the Tbilisi tournament in the Soviet Union in 1971, starting an international exchange that spanned two decades, and was team leader for the 1982 Greco-Roman World Cup, first overseas venture for the new USA Wrestling.

As a collegiate wrestler for Illinois with a 71-7 record, Holzer won two Big Ten titles and placed third nationally in 1957. He was national Freestyle champion for MDYF in 1966 and a six-time All-American.

Holzer placed fourth in the 1966 World Championships in Freestyle, then made the 1968 Olympic team in Greco-Roman and was sixth in Mexico City, He is one of few Americans to earn world awards in both styles.

As a wrestling champion, and a dauntless leader in the development and extension of the sport to its highest levels, Werner P. Holzer is honored as a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.