Oregon transplant who was born in Madison County in 1899 wrestled his way to Olympic stardom in 1924

Robin Reed was born on October 20, 1899, in Pettigrew, an unincorporated community in Madison County.

Pettigrew operated as a logging town during his early years. His family relocated to Portland, Oregon, where Reed attended Franklin High School.

At Franklin High School, Reed began wrestling to meet gymnasium credit requirements for graduation, opting out of standard gym classes. He weighed between 125 and 130 pounds and worked long shifts in shipyards operating an air hammer, which built his physical strength despite the fatigue.

He remained undefeated throughout his high school wrestling matches.

Reed enrolled at Oregon Agricultural College, now Oregon State University, around 1921. He competed at weights of 135 to 140 pounds but often faced opponents in higher classes up to 170 or 175 pounds, winning all matches.

He secured National AAU championships in the 125-pound division in 1921 and the 135-pound division in 1922 and 1924. Under his involvement, Oregon State won its first national team championship.

While still a student, Reed coached Corvallis High School to an Oregon state championship. He later coached the Oregon State varsity team from 1925 to 1926, leading it to a national AAU title in 1926, marking the university's first national championship in any sport

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Reed maintained an undefeated record in his entire amateur career, spanning high school, college, AAU events, and exhibitions, across various weight classes. He is one of only two Olympic wrestlers with a perfect amateur record, alongside Japan's Osamu Watanabe, whose career was shorter.

Notable incidents from his career include entering and winning four weight classes from 145 to 191 pounds at the Pacific Northwest Olympic trials.

While hitchhiking to New York en route to the Olympics, he visited Iowa State University, where he pinned every team member after a bet with the coach.

On the ship to Paris, he pinned most U.S. Olympic wrestlers, including gold medalists. At the Olympics, he bet he could pin heavyweight gold medalist Harry Steel, who weighed over 200 pounds, five times in 15 minutes and succeeded.

In the 1924 Paris Olympics, Reed competed in the freestyle featherweight division at or below 61 kilograms, approximately 134 pounds. He pinned every opponent to win the gold medal

.After the Olympics, Reed turned professional and wrestled for about a decade, earning the World Welterweight Championship. He trained under catch wrestling figures Martin Burns and John Pesek, with Pesek noted as the source of Reed's only mentioned private loss due to size disparity

.In 1936, Reed transitioned to real estate development on the Oregon coast. He built a home in Lincoln City, which later became linked to local stories about an unfinished mansion project.

Reed completed his college degree at age 72 in 1971.He died on December 20, 1978, in Salem, Oregon, at age 79.

Posthumous recognitions include induction into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member in 1978, the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in its inaugural class of 1980, the Oregon State University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1988, and the Portland Interscholastic League Hall of Fame.