Robert “Bobby” Brooks Weaver, Sr. was a freestyle wrestler who won a gold medal at 48 kg (105.5 pounds) at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles….while also winning a silver medal at the 1979 world championships….and was a member of the 1980 Olympic team that boycotted the Moscow Olympics.
Weaver began competing in freestyle while still in high school. He caused a sensation at the 1976 Olympic trials when he pinned his first eight opponents. He eventually ended up as the alternate on the 1976 Montreal Olympic team….then just two years out of high school….Weaver finished second at the 1979 world championships in San Diego, California. Prior to his triumph in Los Angeles….Weaver had won six national freestyle championships….two FILA World Cup gold medals….two World Cup silver medals….gold medals in tournaments in Germany, Poland and Cuba….and a silver medal at the demand freestyle tournament in Tbilisi.
Weaver was a flamboyant winner….especially when he won by pin…..as he was known to jump up and down and do somersaults in the air….particularly when he pinned 1976 Olympian William Rosado for the 1980 team berth….and when he pinned Takashi Irie of Japan in the 1984 48 kg Olympic gold medal match….where he circled the arena several times with his young son, Bobby Jr., in his arms.
Weaver was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in 2008.
