Jon Llewellyn (1968-2022)

Early Onset Dementia is a spectacularly cruel condition. Jon Llewellyn battled this evil for years and finally succumbed on October 12, 2022 with family gathered at his bedside. He was 53. 

Llewellyn is remembered at ILLINOIS for his brilliant career as a heavyweight wrestler, winning All American honors three times and the National Championship in 1991. He was also a three-time Big 10 champion. 

The amazing fact about this legendary ILLINI is that, in high school, Jon Llewellyn earned a varsity letter all four years, but he only made it to the state tournament once. During his Senior year at Hinsdale Central, Llewellyn qualified for the state tournament at 155 pounds but lost his first match. 

He was also the very definition of a "late bloomer," as he wrestled his freshman year in high school at 98 pounds. In his NCAA title match, he was up at 275. 

In one of our first posts on the site, we honored this amazing athlete with a story entitled: "Jon Llewellyn vs. Kurt Angle: Greatest ILLINI Wrestling Match Ever?" That showdown was the culmination of the 1991 NCAA tournament, which featured the ILLINI versus the future Olympic Gold medalist in the finals. The post can be read here. 

In the match, Llewellyn scored a takedown in the first period. Angle got an escape. They both traded escapes in the next two periods, while Angle was dinged a point for stalling. That made it 4-2 in the third period when the ILLINI added a bull charge takedown for two more.

After a Kurt Angle escape, the score was 6-3. That would be how it ended:

Additional backstory includes the fact that Llewellyn beat Angle at that year's All Star meet, was the #1 seed to Angle's #2 in the NCAA tournament, and finished with a 34-1 record. He was the only ILLINOIS wrestler at the tournament in 1991. Angle was the returning champion, and he would win another heavyweight title the following year. 

This was Jon's bracket:

Overall, the ILLINI heavyweight earned 106 varsity wins in an Orange and Blue singlet. Here you can see that that record stacks up well on the all-time ILLINI wins chart:

This is from Jon Llewellyn's induction into the ILLINOIS Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association Hall of Fame:

Jon began his career at Hinsdale Central High school, wrestling varsity for 4 years. As a senior he qualified for the state.  As a non-scholarship wrestler, he won 3 Big Ten Championships for the University of Illinois.   He placed 3rd twice in the NCAA and as a senior won the National Championship, the first NCAA title holder in Illinois since 1958.   He was named Illinois University Outstanding Athlete in 1991. He was also named the Outstanding Wrestler in the Big Tens as a senior.

He was champion of the Las Vegas College tournament, won the East-West All-star meet as a senior and placed three times in the Midlands.  In international competition, Jon has placed 4 times in the USA open."

During his first year at the University of ILLINOIS, he had his books paid for as his scholarship. He quickly jumped past 177 pounds and then 190 pounds and earned his full ride as a heavyweight. He chose ILLINOIS because his brother wrestled there and because it has a top notch Engineering department. Jon would graduate and wrestle freestyle for a time but would fall back on his degree in Structural Engineering. In his free time, he helped out with a local wrestling team. Credit to Audio Beats for the music; video credit to NCAA Championships. Credit the individual photographs in the opening montage to FightingILLINI.com, NCAA.com, uiaa.org, wrestlingchangedmylife.com, ILLINOISMatmen.com, flowrestling.com and intermatwrestle.com. Title image credit to FightingILLINI.com. (One of the photographs in the opening montage is Llewellyn versus Angle). This video is not to be monetized.