Larry Bielenberg (b. 1955) was a student-athlete on the OSU wrestling team who competed from 1974-1977. One of the most highly decorated wrestlers in Oregon State history, Bielenberg earned All American honors three times and won the NCAA championship as a heavyweight in 1975. Still the second-winningest wrestler in school history, Bielenberg was inducted into the OSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1994 and was named to the Pac-12 All Century Team in 2016. Graduating in 1978 with a degree in Health and Human Performance, Bielenberg pursued a career in the pharmaceuticals industry as a technician and manager. In a lengthy and wide-ranging interview, Bielenberg reflects on his hardscrabble upbringing as one of ten children; the evolution of his wrestling career, both collegiately and on the international level; the personality and influence of legendary OSU wrestling coach Dale Thomas; and Bielenberg's career and family life in the years after wrestling.
Life history interview conducted by Mike Dicianna for inclusion in the Oregon State University Sesquicentennial Oral History Collection (OH 26), Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Oregon State University Libraries.
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