Benjamin Wood, the oldest of eight siblings was born in Beckley, W.Va. to Buford and Susan Wood and raised in the community of Princewick, W. Va. He graduated from Independence High School in 2002 where he wrestled and was a three-time state place winner 5,2,2.
Wood was in the United States Marine Corps 2003-2007 and while on a combat deployment to Iraq learned WVU Tech was starting a wrestling team. He finished his enlistment, enrolled to Tech and walked on to the inaugural Golden Bear wrestling team coached by Robert "Bob" Simile.
During his four years, Wood was a three-time national qualifier, two-time NAIA academic All-American, two-time NAIA Scholar-Athlete, NAIA Mid-South Conference Scholar-Athlete, and had a fifth place finish in the NAIA Mid-South Conference Championship in 2011.
Wood graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in History and Government and was a member of National History Honor Society and Phi Alpha Theta. Upon graduation he served as the interim coach for the WVU Tech wrestling team and joined the West Virginia State Police.
While a West Virginia State Trooper, Wood coached the Bluefield High School wrestling team for two years (2013-2014) and had one state finisher. He is currently a Sergeant with the West Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation and additionally assigned to the West Virginia State Police Special Response Team (SRT). In 2022, Wood was honored with the Superintendent's Award.
