Hawaii’s Clarissa Chun has often been called a trailblazer in the sport of women’s wrestling.

How about this label — the humble hall of famer.

Chun already is in her high school hall of fame, her college hall of fame and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

On Saturday night in Seattle, she added another.

Chun became the first Hawaii female to be inducted into the National Federation of State High School Associations National High School Hall of Fame.

“It’s a great honor to be inducted into the NHSHOF,” Chun texted late Saturday. “I’m proud to represent Hawaii and Roosevelt HS. I’m grateful to the HHSAA for sanctioning girls wrestling 25 years ago, which has provided many opportunities for young women across the state. I felt great support for girls and women’s wrestling tonight, and I look forward to its continued growth in the coming years.”

During the induction ceremony on Saturday, the word “trailblazer” was used often to describe Chun during her introduction.

But this 4-foot-11 powerhouse feels that bestowing her with that title is a disservice to the other women who toiled before her and helped forge the way for women in wrestling.

“I never really looked at myself as a trailblazer, really,” Chun said in a telephone interview in late June. “When I step back, I definitely think: Me? Why me?

“Even going through it, I know there were women before me that pioneered the sport. I know women in the ’80s and ’90s that were wrestling. Like early ’90s I remember going to watch a judo teammate of mine. He was older. He wrestled for Mid-Pac and I remember my family and I would go watch his wrestling high school tournament and I would see a girl wrestle and she would wear a white t-shirt underneath. I think I was in the sixth grade when I saw that.”

So, she says, “Who am I to call myself a trailblazer when there were like two decades before me of women wrestling before I even started.”

But because of her innumerable accomplishments — the nation’s first state girls prep wrestling champion at 98 pounds in 1998, Hawaii’s first and only Olympic medalist in women’s wrestling (48 kg) in 2012 and now the first women’s wrestling coach of a Power Five school at Iowa in 2021 — Chun will have to own that title. She could gather more, such as pioneer, ground-breaker, barrier-breaker, even caretaker of a sport that’s on the verge.

The NCAA cited women’s wrestling as an “emerging” sport, one that is close to a threshold in which it could host an NCAA championship. And Chun, as the coach of the only Power Five school with a women’s wrestling program — one that has a 15-member team but no dual opponent yet — is tasked with keeping the sport surging.

“Absolutely, I feel the responsibility to grow the sport,” she said during a press conference Saturday. “(I) definitely want to push other Power Five conferences and schools to provide opportunities for young girls that want to not have to choose between sport and education.”

Chun said “the responsibility isn’t necessarily new to me” because back in the 1990s and early 2000s, the sport, she said, was “still a man’s sport. Only within the last six to 10 years, it’s been growing since Hawaii sanctioned it in ’98. But now it’s growing more rapidly than it ever has.”

“I’ll say the numbers I saw last, within one year, there’s been an exponential growth of 16,000 (new wrestlers) that are participating … so we’re at 52,000, I don’t know the exact numbers,” she said. “That just speaks about the direction of interest … they just wanna compete like the boys do. If you know any other colleges that wanna start, it’s a good time to do it.”

Chun also suggested hall of fame honors such the one she received Saturday allowed her to thank her family for their support and gave her time to reminisce on her journey.

She was one of 12 inductees, which included four athletes, as well as coaches, administrators, contributors and educators. Among the athletes were former NBA standout and Olympian Carlos Boozer, who was a prep star in Alaska, and former WNBA MVP and champion Tamika Catchings, who was Miss Texas in basketball.

“Reflecting back … thinking about the opportunity that was presented and given because of a decision made from the HHSAA (in becoming the first state to sanction girls wrestling in 1998). I completely cherish that because of where I am today. Had there not been an opportunity for me at a young age in high school, I probably would not be sitting here in the seat next to Tamika.

“Like everyone else I treasure the memories and the connections with my teammates,” Chun continued. “I don’t remember the wins and losses, but I remember the hard workouts. Stuck in my head, I remember coaches’ words to try to push me and motivate our whole team (to go) beyond what we felt was in us. Those are the things I cherish and that takes me into what I do today.”