Inductees

Lee Ehrler placed second at the Northern California High School Championships in 1963. Two years later, he was first in the California State Community College Championships. After transferring to UCLA, Lee was a Pacific Eight Champion in 1966 at 152 pounds. He won another Pac 8 Championship in 1967 while being selected as the Outstanding Wrestler at the event. Lee also placed third in the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at 160 pounds, losing 14-12 in the semi-finals to the eventual champion. Two weeks later he won a match in the first East-West Dual Meet by defeating the NCAA Champion, Jim Kamman. Still in 1967, Ehrler placed second in the National AAU Greco-Roman Championships and fourth in the Freestyle Championships. He repeated in fourth place the next year in the National AAU Freestyle Championships. Then in 1969, Lee was third in the National AAU Greco-Roman Championships– wrestling for the Army. Ehrler served as an assistant wrestling coach at UCLA from 1970-72, and he followed by coaching high school wrestling at Ceres, at Downey of Modesto, at Medford (Oregon) and at Riverbank from 1974-86. He went on to become Head Coach at Modesto Junior College from 1986-2004 and from 2007-10. His teams included 64 State placers and 18 All-Americans. He initiated a Community College tournament that has become the largest in California and has been ongoing for 20 years. He also initiated a large and very successful high school wrestling tournament hosted at Modesto JC that is still going strong after 15 years. Lee served for three years as President of the California Community College Wrestling Coaches Association. Since 2011, he has been a member of the Modesto Junior College Foundation Board of Directors. He has started two endowments with the MJC Foundation that are earmarked exclusively for the wrestling program, providing scholarships and program enhancement. The intent is to strengthen the long-term viability and continuation of the wrestling program at MJC. Ehrler retired from teaching and coaching in 2010. His record at MJC was an even 120-120. He was inducted into the Modesto JC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992, and then into the California Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2009.