University of Nevada Athletics

Boxing (1954-56)
Ted Contri helped bring the Wolf Pack boxing team into national prominence in the 1950s. He graduated from Elko High in 1953 and came to the University where he turned out for the boxing team with no previous experience and became a sensational welterweight fighter. As a freshman, Contri lost only two bouts. As a sophomore, he was 9-1. In his junior year, he lost only two, dropping to Ron Rawls of Washington State in the Pacific Coast Championship Tourney finals and took third place in the NCAA Nationals with a loss to the ultimate champion. He did not compete in his senior year. Contri was honored as Athlete of the Year in 1955 in the first such selection by Sierra Nevada Sportswriters & Broadcasters and had the award plaque presented to him by the former world heavyweight champion Max Baer at the organization's first banquet. Contri graduated with a degree in civil engineering, put in two years with the Army Corps of Engineers and then worked for Isbell Construction Co. He started his own construction firm in Incline in 1970 - which was later headquartered in Sparks – and was a longtime supporter of the Reno Air Races.