The Illinois Fighting Illini men's gymnastics team represents the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign and competes in the Big Ten Conference. The Fighting Illini have been invited to 47 NCAA tournaments and have won 10 team NCAA championships, which is second most all-time only to Penn State Nittany Lions' 12 team titles. Additionally, the Fighting Illini have won an all-time record 53 individual NCAA titles.
The Illini hold their competitions at George Huff Hall on the Champaign side of campus, and the team trains and holds practices at the Kenney Gym on the Urbana side of campus.
History Coaching history
+ Illinois Coaches since 1930 Hartley Price 1930–1948* 150–41* 62–31* 4 4 Charlie Pond 1949–1973 319–152–1 116–59 11 4 Yoshi Hayasaki 1974–19931996–2009 762–444–2 132–80 6 1 Don Osborne 1994–1996 47–58 7–9 Justin Spring 2010–2022 87–23–1 29–11–1 3 1 Daniel Ribeiro 2022–present 10-4 2-2 Totals 1,365–728–4 378–239–1 24 10 No competition from 1943 to 1946 due to World War II.
All-time record against current NCAA teams Air Force 11 1 0 Army 12 0 0 California 16 15 0 Illinois-Chicago 63 16 0 Iowa 139 78 0 Michigan 116 79 1 Minnesota 143 91 0 Navy 5 0 0 Nebraska 28 23 0 Ohio State 97 71 1 Oklahoma 8 35 0 Penn State 30 50 0 Stanford 15 17 0 Temple 19 2 0 William & Mary 3 0 0
Players
NCAA individual event champions Illinois has had gymnasts win a record 54 NCAA individual championships.
1938: Joseph Giallombardo – All-Around 1938: Joseph Giallombardo – Tumbling 1938: Joseph Giallombardo – Flying Rings 1939: Joseph Giallombardo – All-Around 1939: Joseph Giallombardo – Tumbling 1939: Marvin Forman – Long Horse 1940: Paul Fina – All-Around 1940: Harry Koehnemann – Side Horse 1940: Joseph Giallombardo – Tumbling 1940: Joseph Giallombardo – All-Around 1941: Caton Cobb – Side Horse 1941: Caton Cobb – Parallel Bars 1941: Jack Adkins – Tumbling
1942: Caton Cobb – Side Horse 1948: Gay Hughes – Trampoline 1948: Joe Calvetti – High Bar 1950: Irving Bedard – Tumbling 1952: Frank Bare – Side Horse 1952: Bob Sullivan – Tumbling 1953: Bob Sullivan – Floor Exercise 1954: Dick Browning – Tumbling 1956: Don Tonry – All-Around 1956: Dan Lirot – Tumbling 1957: Frank Hailand – Tumbling 1957: Abie Grossfeld – High Bar 1957: John Davis – Side Horse 1958: Abie Grossfeld – High Bar 1958: Abie Grossfeld – All-Around
1958: Abie Grossfeld – Floor Exercise 1958: Frank Hailand – Tumbling 1959: Don Tonry – Floor Exercise 1960: Alvin Barasch – Tumbling 1960: Ray Hadley – Floor Exercise 1962: Mike Aufrecht – Side Horse 1963: Hal Holmes – Tumbling 1969: John McCarthy – Long Horse 1980: Dave Stoldt – Pommel Horse 1984: Charles Lakes – High Bar 1998: Travis Romagnoli – All-Around 1998: Travis Romagnoli – Vault 2004: Bob Rogers – Pommel Horse 2004: Justin Spring – High Bar 2005: Justin Spring – Parallel Bars 2006: Justin Spring – Parallel Bars
2006: Justin Spring – High Bar 2008: Paul Ruggeri – High Bar 2009: Paul Ruggeri – High Bar, Parallel Bars 2009: Daniel Ribeiro – Pommel Horse 2011: Tyler Mizoguchi – Parallel Bars 2011: Daniel Ribeiro – Pommel Horse 2012: C. J. Maestas – Still Rings 2012: Paul Ruggeri – Vault 2013: Fred Hartville – Vault 2014: Jordan Valdez – High Bar 2015: C. J. Maestas – High Bar 2016: Brandon Ngai – Pommel Horse 2018: Alex Diab - Still Rings 2019: Alex Diab - Still Rings 2021: Ian Skirkey - Pommel Horse 2026: Brandon Dang - Pommel Horse
Nissen Emery Award The Nissen-Emery Award is annually awarded to the best overall male senior collegiate gymnast in the United States. The award recipient must not only excel athletically as a gymnast, but also must display outstanding sportsmanship and scholarship throughout his college career. The award was created in 1966 and is men's gymnastics' equivalent to college football's Heisman Trophy. 1989: David Zeddies 2006: Justin Spring 2010: Luke Stannard 2012: Paul Ruggeri
Nissen Emery Finalists
1980: Butch Zunich 1981: Steve Lechner 1986: Joe Ledvora 1988: Tigran Mkchyan 1989: David Zeddies 1993: Ricardo Cheriel 1995: Brian Kobylinski 1998: Jon Corbitt 1999: Kyle Zak
2000: Travis Romagnoli 2001: Leo Oka 2002: J.G. Ketchen 2004: Bob Rogers 2005: Ben Newman 2006: Justin Spring 2008: Wes Haagensen 2010: Luke Stannard 2011: Daniel Ribeiro
2012: Paul Ruggeri 2013: Yoshi Mori 2016: Logan Bradley 2017: Joey Peters 2018: Brandon Ngai 2019: Alex Diab 2020: Michael Paradise 2022: Hamish Carter 2023: Ian Skirkey
Illinois Olympians 1940 Tokyo: Paul Fina – Olympics cancelled due to World War II 1956 Melbourne: Abie Grossfeld 1960 Rome: Abie Grossfeld 1960 Rome: Don Tonry 1988 Seoul: Dominick Minicucci 1988 Seoul: Charles Lakes 1992 Barcelona: Dominick Minicucci 2008 Beijing: Justin Spring – Bronze Medal-Artistic Team All-Around 2020 Tokyo: Alex Diab (Alternate) 2020 Tokyo: Tyson Bull (Australia)
References
External links