Inductees

Stephen began wrestling his freshman year of high school, when his family moved from Massachusetts to Southern California. He won the CIF Southern Section as a junior, and in 1973 as a senior at Miraleste HS in the South Bay, he won first place at California’s first state championships. Barrett was Oklahoma State University’s first four-time Big Eight Champion, and was Outstanding Wrestler at the 1977 Big Eight Championships. He placed 5th in the NCAA Division I tournament his sophomore year, 3rd as a junior, and in 1977 he was NCAA Champion at 142 pounds. That same year he was Oklahoma State University’s athlete of the year.

After completing a Master’s degree in Agronomy, Stephen and his wife Cindi joined Athletes In Action and lived in Southern California and then in Vienna, Austria. As an AIA wrestler he won in the 1980 Olympic Trials meet at 149.5 lbs. and represented the US in 15 international tournaments in Europe, USSR, and Iran, winning eight and placing 2nd in five. For 16 years Stephen, Cindi and daughters Amelia, Laura and Molly lived in Russia as representatives of Athletes in Action. He was a liaison between the US and Russian wrestling federations and helped over 30 US teams tour the former Soviet Union. He also organized many Russian wrestling delegations to the US. Wrestling has opened many doors for ministry work and humanitarian projects in the former Soviet Union. The last five years in Russia, Stephen and Cindi lived in the Caucasus Mountains of Southern Russia and worked in a Muslim republic.

hey worked as missionaries mostly in children’s camps, orphanages, sport clubs and schools. They built a sport field for basketball and soccer in a needy area of their city and started the first citywide basketball league. Stephen started an annual wrestling camp for youth from neighboring republics, but 10 years ago it was relocated to Ukraine where it has been held for the past 15 years. In the spring of 2010. Stephen and his wife moved to Ulan Batar, Mongolia, to establish AIA wrestling. In five years there. he helped organize three tours for the US National Women’s Wrestling Team to compete and train in Mongolia. He coordinated one tour for the US Men’s team and hosted nine AIA wrestling tours to Mongolia.

He also coordinated training and host families in California for the Mongolian national wrestling team in the US as they participated in three World Cup tournaments and one World Champion-ship tournament. He began a wrestling camp and tournament for Mongolian cadets and juniors in the summer of 2010, and it is now an annual event. Stephen has helped AIA produce two films about wrestling: “Unfading Glory”and then “Unfading Glory: Greater Than Gold”. The films have been translated into 10 different languages. He has been an ambassador for the sport of wrestling for 40 years, breaking down barriers and bringing closer relationships between wrestlers from different cultures.