Iowa's Spencer Lee wins Hodge Trophy, college wrestling's Heisman

In a nearly unanimous vote, Iowa’s Spencer Lee was announced Monday as the winner of the Dan Hodge Trophy, college wrestling’s version of the Heisman Trophy.

Lee, a junior from Franklin Regional, received 52 of 57 first-place votes.

Lee went 18-0 and was the top seed at 125 pounds for the NCAA championships, which were canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. He outscored his opponents 234-18 this season and was taken down only twice.

A two-time NCAA champion, Lee’s career record at Iowa is 63-5. He went 144-1 with three PIAA titles at Franklin Regional.

Lee also won U.S. Senior National Championships in freestyle competition in December and was a leading candidate to make the U.S. Olympic team at 57 kilograms before the Olympic Trials and Tokyo Games were postponed until next year.

“I’m very happy and excited, and my team is excited,” Lee said in a press release. “I’m humbled to have won it.”

Lee recorded bonus points for his team — winning by pin, tech fall, major decision or forfeit — in 17 of his 18 bouts.

“A lot of times, dominant wrestlers play with their opponent like a cat plays with a mouse,” Iowa coach Tom Brands said in the release. “Spencer is not that way. He’s a ferocious competitor. He wants to get off the mat in as efficient, quick and lopsided of way as possible. The thing that has made him better this year is he is willing to get outside his comfort zone, like finding openings off takedowns into turns to blow matches open.”

Lee is the second WPIAL wrestler to win the award, which first was given out in 1995. North Allegheny graduate Jake Herbert won it in 2009 while wrestling at Northwestern.

Ohio State’s Kollin Moore was the only other wrestler to receive more than one first-place nod in the balloting, getting three. Northwestern’s Ryan Deakin and Stanford’s Shane Griffith received one top vote.

Central Catholic grad Vincenzo Joseph of Penn State also received votes from the panel. Joseph, a two-time national champion, went 15-1 at 165 pounds this season.

Next season, Lee will have the opportunity to join an exclusive club of wrestlers who have won the Hodge Award more than once. Iowa State legend Cael Sanderson, current Penn State coach, won three times. Missouri’s Ben Askren and Penn State’s David Taylor and Zain Retherford won twice each.

The award is voted on by a panel of former winners, college coaches, media members and executives. There is also a fan voting component. Lee received 57% of fan votes, finishing ahead of West Virginia’s Noah Adams (24.8%), Moore (17.6%) and Princeton’s Pat Glory (9.7%).

Voters are asked to consider record, number of pins, dominance and quality of competition. Past credentials, sportsmanship and heart also may be considered.

The award is named after Dan Hodge, an Oklahoma wrestler who won three straight national titles from 1955-57. His career record was 46-0 with 36 pins.