Joe Bliss won the University’s first NCAA boxing title, becoming the first Native and second national champion in Wolf Pack athletics history.
Born in Lovelock, Nev., and a member of the Lovelock Paiute Tribe, Bliss began boxing in the third grade at the now-closed Stewart Indian School in Carson City, Nev. He was a five-sport star at Pershing County High School in Lovelock. In 1953, while he was making a run to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Boxing Team, he was drafted into the U.S. Army. He served two years in Germany during the Korean War and continued to box while in the Army.
Bliss enrolled at the University of Nevada in the late 1950s and quickly because Nevada’s first great boxer. As a sophomore, he reached the national championship round in the 139-pound weight class, losing a split decision to San Jose State’s Welvin Stroud. In 1959, he returned to the championship round and defeated Washington State’s Darrel Whitmore at Nevada’s Old Gym to earn Nevada’s first NCAA title in boxing. In 1960, Bliss advanced to the title match again and fell to Wisconsin’s Charlie Mohr but was named the Outstanding Sportsman of the championship.
After college, Bliss competed in 1960 Olympic Qualifier in San Francisco but was forced to withdraw after being accidentally head-butt in the first minute of the semifinals.
Bliss went on to work in the casino industry, spending 40 years at the Cal Neva. The last surviving member of Nevada Athletics’ inaugural Hall of Fame class (1973), Bliss passed away in September 2020.