In the past, the Florida Gators fielded varsity teams in men's boxing, men's wrestling and men's volleyball. Gator boxer John Joca, a "Gator Great" member of the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame, won the NCAA national boxing championship in the 135-pound weight class in 1940. The Gators boxing team, however, was discontinued in 1943 during World War II, and was never revived after the war. The Gators men's wrestling team was an SEC-sponsored sport from 1970 to 1979; the team won the 1975 SEC championship tournament and placed second during four other seasons. The wrestling and men's volleyball teams were eliminated as a result of cost-cutting and Title IX compliance issues in 1979. The University Athletic Association, under athletic director Ray Graves, desired to take a proactive role in Title IX compliance by balancing the number of available men's and women's athletic scholarships, and this ultimately resulted in the elimination of two men's varsity sports programs.
