WVU Sports Hall of Fame

Inducted: 2006

Written by Shelly Poe

Wrestler Lewis Guidi enjoyed a magnificent four year career at WVU that was highlighted by his runner up finish at the 1955 NCAA tournament.

Guidi was one of the most formidable wrestlers in the East; the 130 pounder won the Southern Conference championship twice and was named the tournament's most outstanding wrestler in 1956. Guidi also won the prestigious Wilkes Barre Invitational as a Mountaineer and was named its outstanding wrestler.

Guidi served in the U.S. Army from 1956-59 at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, coaching in the base's sports program. As a competitor, he was the 1958 runner up at the U.S. Nationals in freestyle and the 1959 U.S. Nationals runner up in Roman Greco. He was also Fourth Army champion and All-Army champions during that period.

After his military service, Guidi coached the first ever varsity wrestling team at Washington Township (N.J.) High for five years before heading back to Pennsylvania, where he coached at Chartiers Valley High for 12 seasons and taught for 24 years.

A native of Jefferson, Pa., Guidi moved to Morgantown at age 13 and attended University High, where he won two state championships before becoming a Mountaineer.

Now retired, Guidi and his wife Sharon have two daughters, Megan and Sarah, and Guidi has three older children: Natalie, Monty and Lori. He lives in McMurray, Pa.