National Wrestling Hall of Fame

LATINO WRESTLING EXPERIENCE NATIONAL WRESTLING HALL OF FAME & MUSEUM | 25 Alfonso Hernandez excelled as a wrestler in three different spheres: on the mat; in the classroom; and as a husband and father. Like many other successful high school wrestlers, Alfonso was a three-sport letterman – wrestling, track and football – at Blackfoot High School in Blackfoot, Idaho. He won two Idaho high school state wrestling championships, one at 189 pounds and the other at 215, but equally impressive, this very special wrestler graduated with a 3.7 grade point and was a member of the National Honor Society his senior year. Alfonso came late to the sport, beginning in organized wrestling in his freshman year at Blackfoot -Alfonso never the less won 106 matches and was named a NHSCA Jr. All-American. After graduation in 2008, Alfonso got married before he joined the Cowboys of the University of Wyoming and, after the birth of his first son, bore the triple responsibilities of wrestler, student and father/husband at age 18. As a true freshman, he recorded a 23-19 record, just missing qualifying for the NCAA tournament. Guiding his young family with the strong support of his wife, Alfonso excelled as a scholar and was selected to his conference's Honor Roll of athletes. Sophomore year, Hernandez wrestled not only at the very challenging 197- pound division for the Cowboys, but also at heavyweight. Continuing to improve his skills on the mat -- remember Alfonso still only had five years of organized wrestling under his belt -- he posted a 22-16 record. Along the way, he also averaged a perfect 4.0 grade point average and again was named to the conference honor roll. Don't get the idea that this Latino wrestler just cruised through his career as a Cowboy. He overcame a number of challenges on the mat including recovering from back surgery his junior season of 2010-2011, Alfonso was redshirted. Even so, again Alfonso excelled in the classroom as he continued to improve his mat skills. Returning to the mat, Hernandez junior year proved to be his breakout season. On the mat, he rolled through the West Regional and entered the Nationals ranked ninth at 197 pounds. En route to a sixth place finish, he bettered two other ranked wrestlers to become an All-American. At the same time, he was named to the NWCA All-Academic Team for his success in the classroom On top of that Alfonso Hernandez was named his conference's Wrestler-of-the-Year. Hernandez won his second straight Western Wrestling Conference title as a senior and finished seventh in the NCAA Championships to become one of only six Wyoming wrestlers ever to garner All-America honors more than once. He finished his career ranked eighth on the Cowboys' all-time win list with 120 victories during his career. The Head Coach of the Cowboys acknowledges that at first he was concerned about how Alfonso, at 18 years of age, would meet the challenges of university wrestling, the classroom, and raising a young family. But that concern soon faded as he watched Alfonso excel regardless of his many responsibilities. The secret? Alfonso says that, "It's all putting everything in routine. They (his family) are priority No. 1, and I have to balance out school and wrestling." He also gives full credit to his wife for all of her support during his university career. ALFONSO HERNANDEZ Wrestled 2008-2013 University of Wyoming 197lbs

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