Ben Kjar, the Bountiful native who became Viewmont High School's first three-time state wrestling champion, will be inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame on Monday, Sept. 14, at the Little America Hotel in Salt Lake City.

Kjar joins four other 2026 inductees: Olympic freestyle skiing medalist Shannon Bahrke, sportswriter Lee Benson, sculptor Blair Buswell, and quarter horse jockey Cody Jensen. The reception begins at 6:15 p.m., with the banquet at 7 p.m. Tickets are $90 per person.

The honor caps a career that started at Centerville Junior High, where Kjar went undefeated, and exploded at Viewmont. He won state titles in 2000, 2001, and 2002, compiling a 125-6 career record. He also swept national titles in folkstyle, freestyle, and Greco-Roman that year, earning a rare USA Wrestling Triple Crown. No opponent managed a takedown against him during his entire senior season in Utah competition. That year, he led the Vikings to their first team state championship in wrestling.

Kjar had the letters "3XSC" sewn onto his letter jacket after winning his first title as a sophomore, before he'd won the second or third.

"I never had to take that patch off," Kjar said in his Utah Sports Hall of Fame inductee profile.

The achievement is more remarkable given what Kjar overcame. Born with Crouzon syndrome, a rare craniofacial condition that reshapes the skull and facial bones, he was told as a child he could not play contact sports. He endured multiple reconstructive surgeries and intense bullying about his appearance. At a June 19 speaking engagement in Alexandria, Minnesota, Kjar said wrestling became the thing he claimed as his own, the thing that got him through Crouzon syndrome, as reported by the Echo Press.

After Viewmont, Kjar became Utah Valley University's first NCAA Division I wrestling All-American, finishing fourth at the 2011 NCAA Championships after upsetting the No. 4, No. 5, and No. 7 seeds as an unseeded entry at 125 pounds. He closed his UVU career at 129-35 and was named the school's 2011 Male Athlete of the Year. He also placed fourth at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials in freestyle.

Then, at 40 years old and after more than a decade away from competition, Kjar returned to the mat and won gold in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2023 Masters World Championships in Loutraki, Greece.

His story is now the subject of "STANDOUT: The Ben Kjar Story," a documentary directed by Tanner Christensen and produced by Jared Hess, director of "A Minecraft Movie." The film, which holds a 100% Tomatometer rating from 16 critics on Rotten Tomatoes, premiered in theaters Jan. 23 and began streaming April 3 through Angel Studios.

The Sept. 14 banquet is open to the public. The Utah Sports Hall of Fame also operates a free museum at City Creek Mall in Salt Lake City, open Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.