Wrestling, Football and Track & Field
Eiler Henricksen grew up in Deerwood, Minnesota, and graduated from Crosby-Ironton High School. An extraordinary all-around athlete at Carleton, he won nine letters in football, wrestling and track. He never lost a dual race in track, and set Carleton records in the mile and two-mile runs. He was undefeated in dual meets for three years in wrestling; in the 1942-43 season he served as both captain and coach. A center and linebacker in football, he often played a full game and ran in the halftime cross country meet.
In the 1948 Olympic wrestling trials, Henrickson went through the district, regional and national elimination tournaments without a defeat, failing to gain a place on the squad only because of the archaism “black mark” system which penalized a wrestler for winning “only” by a decision. He defeated four former national champions during the trials.
Henrickson joined the Carleton faculty in 1946, and after a year as an instructor at Minnesota he returned in 1948. He received the Ph.D. in geology in 1956 and was a Charles L. Denison Professor of Geology.