"The best ambassador any college could have"
Leroy (Tracy) Borah graduated from Grand Junction High School in 1943. From there, he began his journey to become one of the most well-respected and influential wrestling coaches in the history of small college athletics and specifically, the state of Colorado.
Borah received his B.S. from Colorado State University in 1950 where he was a double threat on the wrestling mat and the football field. He came to Western Colorado to obtain his M.A., and later completed advanced studies at Arizona State University. Not only was he a pioneer in Colorado collegiate athletics, but Borah excelled in other areas of life. Tracy served as a paratrooper during World War II fighting for the U.S. Armed Forces while also playing professionally in jazz big bands.
He began his coaching career at the prep level instructing teenagers at Sedgwick (Colo.) High School in football, basketball and track & field in 1950. This is also where he began to enhance young minds through teaching social studies and biology. Borah then spent three years at Haxton (Colo.) High School where he coached the same three sports and again taught social studies and biology.
Borah moved to the collegiate ranks and began his illustrious coaching career in the sport of wrestling in July of 1954. His first experience instructing grapplers was at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colorado. He coached football, wrestling, track & field, and taught biology at Northeastern, all of which were familiar tasks to Borah. He also took on the responsibility of building the track, a strenuous activity, which took dedication and resilience.
From Northeastern Junior College, Borah moved back to Western Colorado where his legacy would reach its pinnacle. The success of athletics at Western Colorado can be attributed to the hard work of Borah. He arrived at WCU in 1956 where he served as athletic director, head wrestling coach and assistant coach for both football and track upon his retirement in 1985.
As head wrestling coach, Borah guided 45 individual Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference champions, 30 All-Americans, seven national champions and back-to-back national championship teams in 1963 and 1964. The latter national championship squad was inducted into the RMAC Hall of Fame in 2004. He also served on the National Wrestling Rules Committee and was the founder and director of the Rocky Mountain Wrestling Camp. Borah ran the camp for 22 years, which remains the longest running wrestling camp in the United States.
He also started the Colorado Collegiate Wrestling Championships and was president of the Mountain Intercollegiate Wrestling Association, which he incepted with three other wrestling colleagues. The MIWA was considered to be tougher than the NAIA national championships to many because not only were there several high quality NCAA College Division teams, but the tournament also featured nationally ranked University Division teams.
During Borah’s 18 years as athletic director, Western experienced one of the most successful football eras in the history of the RMAC. During this time, Bill Noxon coached the gridiron Mountaineers to eight RMAC titles in nine seasons. Borah was also responsible for starting Western’s first athletic booster organization - the Century Club.
Some of Borah’s crowning achievements are as follows:
- Colorado High School Coaches Hall of Fame (1989)
- Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame (1995)
- NCAA Division II Wrestling Hall of Fame (1996)
- Colorado Sports Hall of Fame (1998)
- National Wrestling Hall of Fame Colorado Chapter (2000)
- RMAC Hall of Fame (2005)
- RMAC All-Century Team Coach (2009)
He was also awarded the Coach of the Year by the Colorado Wrestling Coaches Association and the College Educator of the Year in 1979. Tracy Borah Day was designated in Gunnison, Colo. on Feb., 14, 1985, celebrating the accomplishments of which many individuals hold in high regard with respect to Borah. The Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame Room is dedicated in his honor.
In 1991, the Tracy Borah Invitational was born. The format changed to a dual event in 2007.
