Inductees

Damon was raised in a very rural area where there were practically no youth sports programs — certainly not wrestling. But his family moved to the city, and in high school he made the varsity football team in his first year. The football coach, who had learned wrestling from a book, asked Damon to come out for the wrestling team.

Zumwalt was undefeated in three years of high school wrestling competition. As a senior, he was also asked to play in the annual Breitbard All-Star Football Game, and he was voted Lineman of the Year by the SD Chargers. After receiving scholarship offers for football and for wrestling from several universities, Damon selected UCLA and competed four years. He was successful at the regional Olympic Trials in wrestling, but he was unable to travel to Oklahoma for the finals due to lack of funds. He continued to wrestle in AAU tournaments over the years, winning several district tournaments. Damon won a Gold Medal at the Mexican National Championships in 1967, and he won the Naval Training Center Inter-national Tournament.

After several years and not having wrestled for some time, Zumwalt decided to wrestle up a few weights, and he placed 2nd to a National Champion. Damon never forgot the financial struggle of his early years, and he had seen other talented athletes with financial difficulties. He had to decide between pursuing national and international wrestling competition or building his business. He continued with his business, applying the discipline he learned in wrestling toward building Contemporary Service Corporation (CSC) from its original focus of concert security into the largest security firm in the world with over 80,000 employees and more than 50 locations across the United States. His company has provided security for some of the world’s largest events, including 10 Olympics, many NFL Championships, the G8/G20 Summit in Toronto, and worldwide entertainment events. He is the pioneer of peer group security and crowd management, with clients including MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, and NASCAR. Zumwalt has been selected as Employer of the Year by both the Urban League and the Marriott Foundation.

He also received the CEO of the Year Business Award from the NAACP. Damon has a passion for youth and sports, and he is using profits from CSC to build an $80,000,000 sports complex in Wisconsin. It will provide opportunities for young athletes to compete and to improve their talents while getting counseling and guidance that they need to develop as young men and women. Along with this effort, he has hired many under-privileged wrestlers in the local area.