Former Granite City High Wrestling Coach, Alton All-State Wrestler To Be Inducted In National Wrestling Hall Of Fame

GRANITE CITY/ALTON - The Illinois Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame will induct eight individuals at its annual Honors Banquet, which will be held on Sunday, October 19, 2025 in Bloomington.

Ron Coit, Mike Garland, Jim Heffernan, Jeff Hill, Rob Ledin and Rob Sherrill will be Inducted for Lifetime Service Awards. Antonia Phillip is the recipient of the Medal of Courage Award and Matt Hughes will receive the Outstanding American Award.

The Honors Banquet will take place at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Bloomington, which is located at 10 Brickyard Dr. in Bloomington. A social is scheduled at 3 p.m., opening remarks and dinner are at 4 p.m. and the presentation of awards is at 5 p.m. If you are interested in attending the banquet and honoring the 2025 inductees, please contact Joe Cliffe at jcwrestle5@gmail.com to purchase a ticket. You may also go online at https://nwhofil.ticketspice.com/25il

Here are the six NWHOF Illinois Chapter 2025 Lifetime Service Award recipients as well as Medal of Courage and Outstanding American.

Ron Coit-2025 Lifetime Service Award

Possessing a meticulous, seasoned and unflappable demeanor, the "Iron Man" of central Illinois officiating has got to be Ron Coit. Ron has been a highly successful IHSA official for the past 45 years, including a current run of 28 consecutive IHSA Dual Team and Individual State Finals.

Mike Garland-2025 Lifetime Service Award

Back in 1998, Granite City High School became the first high school in the nation to win 1000 high school dual meets! Head coach at that time? ... None other than this year's National Wrestling Hall of Fame - Illinois Chapter Lifetime Service Award winner Mike Garland!

Jim Heffernan-2025 Lifetime Service Award

The Illinois Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame is proud to bestow one more distinguished honor to the great Jim Heffernan. The 4X NCAA All-American and NCAA Champ joined the University of Illinois staff in 1992 and would move on to become the Illini Head Coach for 12 years before retiring in 2021. Jim was a NWHOF Glen Brand Inductee in 2006 and produced 11 NCAA Champs and at least one All-American every year during his 29 year tenure at U of I.

Jeff Hill-2025 Lifetime Service Award

Across small communities throughout Illinois, there’s no greater acclaim than when one coach can bring tremendous wrestling success to a single high school. In Petersburg, Illinois, at PORTA high school, with an enrollment less than 300 students, that man is Jeff Hill. Over the past 34 years, Coach Hill has brought an amazing 826 dual meet wins, 20 Regional Titles and 5 Dual State Trophies back to PORTA, capped by an IHSA State Team Title in 2010.

Rob Ledin-2025 Lifetime Service Award

Head Coach Rob Ledin has had an extraordinary 35-year career, amassing 521 dual meet wins across Clinton, Morton and for the past 24 years, at Mahomet-Seymour high school. During that span, Rob has produced an amazing 109 IHSA state qualifiers, 33 state placers and 7 state champs!

Rob Sherrill-2025 Lifetime Service Award

Rob Sherrill has been the guru of Illinois high school wrestling journalism for the past 47 years. He knows personally our wrestlers, our coaches, their teams, and their history. He’s been ranking Illinois high school wrestlers since 1978, first with the Star Newspapers and the Grappler, to his Illinois Best Weekly and eventual partnership with Illinois Matmen. For the past 20 years, he’s been WIN magazine’s National High School Editor and has written the book Tales From the Mat: Illinois High School Wrestling at 75.

Matt Hughes-2025 Outstanding American

Matt Hughes is largely considered one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time, an early pioneer of the sport, a former two-time UFC Welterweight Champion and UFC Hall of Famer. But did you know that before this dominance, he was a 2X undefeated IHSA State Champion for Hillsboro HS and then a 4X JUCO and DI All-American? This is why the Illinois Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame has selected Matt Hughes as our 2025 Outstanding American! EIU Alumni... Lincoln alumni... anybody who needs this stud's autograph... Come on out to support Matt and celebrate this year's NWHOF-IL Induction Class of 2025.

Antonia Phillips-2025 Medal of Courage

Two-time IHSA All State Wrestler and 2022 State Champion, Antonia blazed the trail for female athletes in Southern Illinois as a deaf athlete that has excelled in spite of this obstacle. Antonia now competes at Aurora University.

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