The two-time WWE champion and sports-entertainment icon was
announced Jan. 21 as the second inductee for the Hall’s 2013 class, joining
Mick Foley as the WWE legends for enshrinement on Apr. 6, 2013 .
The Princeton, Minn., native achieved the highest honors in
both amateur and professional wrestling over a storied, decades-long career,
earning collegiate All-American honors at North Dakota State University as well
as an NCAA Championship at 190 pounds. He was also an all-conference football
player before turning professional and pursuing a career in WWE.
Backlund cemented himself firmly in sports-entertainment
lore when he defeated “Superstar” Billy Graham for the WWE Title and held the
prize for six years, a reign second only to Bruno Sammartino’s in WWE history.
The old-school grappler quietly left WWE in the ‘80s after
losing the title to The Iron Sheik, but returned in 1992 and later defeated
Bret Hart for his second WWE Championship at Survivor Series 1994. Backlund’s
appearances throughout the 2000s have been sporadic but memorable, and his
influence remains strewn across the sports-entertainment landscape to this day.
A two-sport athlete at NDSU, Backlund was a two-year
starter at defensive tackle for Ron Erhardt’s 1970 and 1971 Bison teams that
combined for a 16-2-1 record including a victory over Montana in the 1970
Camellia Bowl.
Backlund became the second NDSU wrestler ever to win a NCAA
Division II national championship when he took the 190-pound crown in 1971
before the home fans in Fargo 16-4-1 at NDSU and closed out his career with a fifth-place
finish at heavyweight in the 1972 NCAA Championships.
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