Bemidji State
Football and Wrestling
1971-1975
Robert Whelan, a native of Kalispell, Montana has spent the majority of his life in northern Minnesota, including graduating from Bemidji High School (1971) and Bemidji State University (1975) with a double major in Health and Physical Education and a minor in Biology. During his Beaver football career, Whelan earned the Golden Hammer Award (Best Hitter), All-NIC (1973 & 1974), All-NAIA District 13 (1973 & 1974), Bemidji State Defensive Player of the Year (1973 & 1974), BSU MVP (1974), NAIA All-American Honorable Mention (1974) and was the BSU co-captain in his senior season. Whelan also excelled on the wrestling mat at BSU earning letters in all four seasons (1972-1975), along with NIC individual championships (1972 and 1975) and placing fourth at the NAIA national tournament in 1972, sixth in 1973 and capturing the 1975 NAIA national championship as a heavyweight. He was also named co-captain for the 1973-1974 and 1974-1975 seasons, achieved All-American status in 1972, 1973 and 1975 while posting a 76-14-1 record in his final two seasons. For his overall athleticism he received the Harry F. Bangsberg Award (outstanding student-athlete at BSU) in 1975. After his Bemidji State career, he continued to hone his wrestling skills by joining the 1975 USA Freestyle Wrestling Team which toured Japan and Korea. While on the tour he was undefeated and earned the 1975 Korean National Freestyle Tournament championship and was crowned champion of the 1975 Korean National Greco-Roman Tournament. In the fall of 1975 he accepted a one-year position as a graduate assistant in the Physical Education Department at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. He then completed his Master’s of Education and trained for the 1976 U.S. Olympic Trials. He was stopped short of his goal of winning the trials and earning a spot on the U.S. National Team, however, he did win the Western Regional Qualifying Tournament in 1976. After his prestigious wrestling career, Whelan spent 10 years teaching in Bemidji area school system. During that time he married, Shannon, and started a family. His son, Rob, was born in 1979, and his daughter, Shannon, was born in 1982. Then in 1988 he decided to changed his professional course retiring from teaching to enter the business world. He spent the next eight years working for a wholesale lumber company as a trader, buying and selling with various merchants in the U.S. and Canada. In 1997, Whelan started his own business, Supreme Lumber Inc., which he now owns and runs with his son in Bemidji. Whelan was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1988 and was inducted into the BSU Hall in 1997.