Kevin L. LeValley (2021) - Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame

Kevin L. LeValley

Induction:
2021
Class:
2011

Kevin LeValley was part of Dan Wirnsberger’s second wrestling recruiting class after the sport was reinstated to varsity status in 2005, and LeValley spent his four undergraduate years rewriting the Bucknell record book.

LeValley became Bucknell’s third two-time All-American after finishing seventh at 149 pounds at the NCAA Championships in both 2010 and 2011. He also set the team records for wins in a season (42) and career (127), breaking the marks previously held by former teammate Andy Rendos, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame with the Class of 2020.

LeValley’s senior campaign will go down as one of the best in school history. He finished 34-3 for a .919 winning percentage that ranked second all-time behind only Hall-of-Famer Tom Scotton, who was 28-1 in 1977-78. LeValley was ranked as high as No. 2 nationally in 2010-11, and the highlight of his career was upsetting four-time national champion Kyle Dake of Cornell to win the EIWA title at 149 pounds. Dake, considered one of the finest collegiate wrestlers of all-time, held a career record of 137-4. LeValley earned the EIWA Coaches’ Trophy after that performance.

LeValley posted a 10-6 record in his three career trips to the NCAA Championships. He was also a three-time EIWA placewinner, with second and sixth-place finishes to go along with his title as a senior. LeValley became the first Bison ever to win an individual title at the Midlands Championships, and he was the first Bison to win at the NWCA All-Star Classic.

A two-year team captain who went 20-10 against ranked opponents in his final two collegiate seasons, LeValley competed internationally after graduation and was ranked as high as 12th in the world. He won a gold medal at the 2013 Cerro Pelado International in Cuba and the 2017 Dave Schultz Memorial International. He was runner-up at the 2014 Alexander Medved International in Belarus, fourth at the 2014 U.S. Open, and third at the 2015 World Team Trials. LeValley, who was the Christy Mathewson Award recipient as the top senior athlete in his class at Bucknell, later returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach.