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    ASU coach, Cornell College wrestler Bredehoft dead at 84

    Ted Bredehoft, wrestler at Cornell College in the 1950s who became head wrestling coach at Arizona State throughout the 1960s, has died, Arizona State announced Thursday.

    Bredehoft passed away in a hospice in Wichita, Kan. on May 20 at age 84.

    Ted Bredehoft with Curley Culp
    Theodore "Ted" Cornell Bredehoft was born in Lincoln, Neb. and adopted by his parents, Walter and Hilda Bredehoft. He attended Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa in the mid-1950s where he was a member of the Purple wrestling team before earning his bachelor's degree. Bradehoft later earned his Master's at University of Washington, and his Ph.D. at Arizona State University.

    It was at ASU where Bredehoft made a name for himself as a wrestling coach for eleven years throughout the 1960s and into the early 1970s. His Sun Devil wrestling teams won the WAC (Western Athletic Conference) championship in 1965, and placed in the top three for five straight seasons. ASU placed sixth in the team standings at the 1965 NCAA championships, and eighth at the Nationals in 1967, the year when future NFL Hall of Famer Curley Culp won the heavyweight title as the first wrestling champ for the Sun Devils.

    In addition to serving as head wrestling coach, Bredehoft was also tennis coach and an assistant athletic director.

    "Bredehoft's most visible traits were his bottomless well of energy and his incessant desire to grow his program," according to the tribute to the former ASU coach at the official Sun Devil wrestling website. "He held outdoor wrestling matches in front of the old ASU library, setting up mats on ground that wasn't quite level, thereby adding an interesting variable for the contestants."

    "We would run up A-Mountain, doing calisthenics and he'd have a photographer up here to get pictures of us because he was always promoting the wrestling program," said Glenn McMinn, who placed second at 115 pounds at the 1965 NCAAs, and third in 1967 for Arizona State. "I remember he had a convertible and a few us -- Charlie Tribble loved it -- drove around campus with big signs promoting our match.

    "Ted was like a ball of fire. You just couldn't stop him. He had so much nervous energy."

    In 1972, Bredehoft left Arizona State to become athletic director at Wichita State University in Kansas, where he served until 1982. He later became an oil-company executive. In 2000, Bredehoft and his wife, Susan, started the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Network of Kansas after the death of his 6-month-old granddaughter.

    Funeral services have already taken place.

    A memorial has been established to honor Ted Bredehoft at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, 1321 N. Stratford Lane, Wichita, KS 67206. Those wishing to share tributes online may do so at www.dlwichita.com.
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