Yakima Valley College Athletics

An NAIA Wrestling Hall of Fame member, Eric Beardsley was selected NAIA National Wrestling coach of the Year in 1971 and 1974, when his Central Washington University teams won NAIA national championships.

He became Central's first wrestling coach in 1958 and served twenty-five years in that post.  During that time he coached fourteen national champions, thirty-two All-Americans, and fifty-three national place winners.  Twelve of his teams placed in the top ten nationally.

After graduating from CWU, Beardsley became the first wrestling coach at Moses Lake HS and established a state wrestling power in his seven years as coach there.  As a CWU athlete he earned All-Conference honors in football and track.

A Yakima High School graduate, Beardsley attended Yakima Valley College in 1946-1948 and won six letters in football, basketball, and track.  He was All-Conference in football and track (pole vault and shot put), second team All-Conference in basketball, and was captain of the 1948 basketball team.  He was inducted into the NWAC Hall of Fame in 1994.