Having never competed in a singlet, Denny Diehl is one of the most significant contributors to college wrestling in the whole country over the last 50 years at the national, EIWA, and university levels. He was well-known as a prolific writer, a passionate historian, an advocate for the growth of the sport, a keen statistician, and a loyal friend.
Diehl was the first to publish weight-by-weight rankings, beginning in 1975 after launching the publication, National Mat News that year with Bill White (Amateur Wrestling News did not begin individual rankings in every issue until 1978, and Diehl would later be a regular contributor to AWN). He was a commentator and pre-meet host for Channel 39 TV from 1976-1980, authored the History of Lehigh Wrestling, a 226-page publication documenting LU wrestling from 1910-1997, and is still the publisher of Lehigh University Wrestling News (starting in 1995).
He helped design LehighWrestling.com, a top college wrestling club website offering current events and archived school history, and he served as the Director of Media Relations for the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships from 2007-2011, providing bout-by-bout commentary, statistics, and bio information to the media, including ESPN.
Diehl not only left his mark on these and even more wrestling-related fronts (including numerous fundraising campaigns and serving on several Hall of Fame Committees), but he was also recognized for the excellence of the contributions he made to wrestling.
In 1995, he received the highest honor there is for a wrestling writer—the Bob Dellinger Award—which is the only media award recognized by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. He is also one of the few to receive the Lehigh Alumni Lifetime Award.
