Class of 2025

Bob McGuinn,

Grant/Eastern Illinois University

Wrestler

 

Bob McGuinn followed up on a fine career at Grant High School in Fox Lake that also featured plenty of success in both high school and offseason competition by not only being an NCAA Division II individual champion and a three-time All-American at Eastern Illinois University but he also helped the program to three-straight top-three team finishes in the NCAA Division II Finals, including one year when the Panthers missed winning the championship by less than one point.

Bob’s best season with EIU was in 1978-79 when he was a sophomore and won the NCAA Division II championship at 134 pounds with a 20-9 victory over Nebraska-Omaha’s Gary Baldwin in the title match in the event, that was held at South Dakota State University in Brookings, South Dakota. As a result, he was able to advance to the NCAA Division I Finals.

The Panthers scored 112.5 points in the competition, which was one-quarter point behind champion Cal State University-Bakersfield, who scored 112.75 to claim its third title in four years and it started a run of five-straight titles for CSUB that was halted by SIU-Edwardsville in 1984.

He is the fifth IWCOA Hall of Fame inductee who was All-American on that team. The others were Bob Holland (2001), Geno Savegnago (1998), Dave Klemm (1998) and Ralph McCausland (1996). A hall of famer in soccer, Randy Blackman (2018) and Bob Stout were the other All-American for EIU in its best-ever NCAA II showing.

Bob claimed third place at 134 pounds in 1980 and finished in sixth place at 134 pounds in 1978. In 1978 and 1980, Eastern Illinois took third place in the competition. The Panthers coach during that run of success was Ron Clinton, a 1998 IWCOA Hall of Fame inductee. Bob went 91-20-1 during his career with the Panthers and graduated from Eastern Illinois University in 1983 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education.

At Grant High School, Bob competed for coach Don Rowden, a 1995 IWCOA Hall of Fame inductee. He went 122-15-2 during his career, with the highlight being a third-place finish at 138 pounds in the IHSA AA Finals in 1977 to cap a 43-2 senior season. Also in 1977, Bob was a state champion in both Freestyle and Greco-Roman in the offseason.

Bob taught for three years at Lake Zurich High School and also coached there and he also taught and coached at Bolingbrook High School for one season. He has also been a longtime volunteer for coach Mark Masters’ Coal City Coalers, who won the IHSA Class 1A Dual Team title this season. He owns and operates a landscaping business in Braceville.