Four-time NCAA wrestling champion Brooks wins Hodge Trophy | Centre County

Tim Weight/For The Gazette |
Aaron Brooks will be presented the Hodge Trophy at the Penn State Wrestling Club Awards Banquet on Sunday, April 7, in State College.

UNIVERSITY PARK — There’s barely a list of elite collegiate wrestling accomplishments that doesn’t include the name Aaron Brooks. That list shrunk on Monday, April 1.

Brooks, one of only seven four-time NCAA wrestling champions and a five-time All-American, was named the 2024 Hodge Trophy winner, symbolic of the nation’s best collegiate wrestler.

Established in 1995, the 2024 WIN Magazine/Culture House Dan Hodge Trophy is the equivalent of college football’s Heisman Trophy.

Brooks capped off a 22-0 senior season with the 197-pound championship, joining teammate Carter Starocci as the first two wrestlers in collegiate history to win their fourth titles in the same season. He accumulated six pins, 11 technical falls and three major decisions. He finished with a 90.91 bonus-point percentage. Brooks completed his stellar career with an 89-3 record.

The Nittany Lion received 48 out of 59 first-place votes from the Hodge Trophy Voting Committee, which was comprised of a retired college coach from each region of the country, a representative from each of the national wrestling organizations, select national media members and past Hodge winners.

Northern Iowa 184-pound champion Parker Keckeisen received eight first-place votes. Starocci, the 174-pound champion, received two votes and teammate Greg Kerkvliet, the 285-pound champion, received one vote.

Penn State can now claim seven Hodge Trophy recipients among five individuals: Kerry McCoy (1997), David Taylor (2012, 2014), Zain Retherford (2017, 2018), Bo Nickal (2019) and Brooks. No other school in the nation has more than four.

“I am really happy for Aaron. He worked hard, kept improving in all of his positions and had a dominating season,” said a release from Penn State coach Cael Sanderson, who won three Hodges during his storied career at Iowa State.

“I never heard Aaron talk about winning the Hodge, but one of his many strengths is his faith and knowing he is going to go out and give a tremendous effort and everything else will work itself out.”

Founded in 1995 by Mike Chapman, the creator of WIN Magazine, and sponsored by ASICS, the Dan Hodge Trophy is awarded to the most dominant wrestler each year by WIN and Chapman’s company, Culture House. The late Dan Hodge was an undefeated three-time NCAA champion at 177 pounds for the University of Oklahoma, and the only wrestler to ever appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated, in the April 1, 1957, edition.

Criteria for the Hodge include a wrestler’s record, dominance/bonus-point percentage, quality of competition and sportsmanship.

“Winning and losing is a lower standard than performance. You could win and not wrestle your best,” Sanderson said. “Performance is a permanent mentality. It is hard for kids because there can be so much pressure and…