John Oxton (1999) - Hall of Fame - St. Cloud State University Athletics

John Oxton

Induction:
1999

John Oxton served as the St. Cloud State wrestling coach from 1967 to 1987 and charted an impressive 167-120-9 record during his time with the Huskies.

Under the direction of Oxton, the Huskies were a collegiate wrestling powerhouse. The Huskies won Northern Intercollegiate Conference championships in 1974, 1975, 1977 and 1978. He guided the Huskies to four top 10 finishes at the NCAA Division II championships with a seventh place finish in 1983 and eighth place finishes in 1986 and 1976. SCSU charted winning records in 15 seasons during Oxton's career.

SCSU wrestlers earned All-American honors 34 times during the Oxton era and also won 36 individuaul conference titles in the NIC and the North Central Conference.

An outstanding wrestling product of Central High School in Dickinson, N.D., Oxton won on to even greater mat fame at Dickinson State College, where he won four varsity letters in wrestling and four in golf.

He began his wrestling career at Mandan, N.D. High School and prior to joining the staff at SCSU, Oxton served one season as an assistant wrestling coach at the University of North Dakota. In addition, Oxton also earned a M.S. degree from the University of North Dakota.

In his career, Oxton served as president of the NCAA Division II Wrestling Coaches Association and was named the NIC Coach of the Year in 1974 and 1977. In 1999, Oxton was inducted into the St. Cloud State Athletic Hall of Fame and he was inducted into the SCSU Jack Gause Huskies Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2007. The Huskies also named the Outstanding Wrestler Award at the annual Husky Open tournament after Oxton. The honor is fitting since Oxton was a driving force behind the creation of the Husky Open, which is a major college wrestling tournament that has been held each December in SCSU's Halenbeck Hall since 1970.

A faculty emeriti at St. Cloud State, Oxton also served as the golf coach at St. Cloud State from 1968 to 1978 and helped the Huskies win NIC men's golf titles in 1973, 1974 and 1975.