2026 RBS&HF Nominations Open

Wrestling coaches across all of Colorado now have the opportunity to nominate graduating-senior wrestlers (class of 2026) for the annual Ray Barron Strength & Honor Fund scholarship. The fund was established in 2020 in honor of legendary Colorado wrestling Coach Ray Barron, and the scholarship intends to recognize graduating-senior Colorado wrestlers—male and female—who demonstrate strength and honor in all they do, on and off the mat.

“We begin the process with a coach nomination because the relationship between coach and wrestler was so important to my dad, Ray Barron,” said fund president and Barron’s daughter Jennifer Paulson. “We make the nomination quite simple for the coaches to complete, and then the qualified nominated wrestlers are sent an application to complete that encompasses the real effort. The fund’s board then considers both the coach nominations and the wrestler applications to determine the recipient of the $10,000 scholarship for one graduating senior to use at an accredited college, university, junior college, or trade school.”

The coaches’ nomination form can be found at raybarronstrengthandhonorfund.com/apply, and the complete rules can be found at https://bit.ly/3N0NEEU. Nominations close December 30, 2025. Other important dates in the nomination and application process are:

·      December 30, 2025: Coaches’ nominations close

·      February 1, 2026: Athlete applications are due

·      April 15, 2026 (or sooner): Recipient(s) notified and scholarship awarded

Earlier this year, the fund awarded its fourth scholarship to Ben Brown of Arapahoe High School. During the past five years, the fund has also provided camp grants to the three schools where Barron served as head wrestling coach: Fort Lupton High School, Heritage High School, and Columbine High School. The fund, members of the board, and other supporters also complete other outreach efforts throughout the year to support Colorado wrestling in Coach Barron’s honor.