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History of Kaukauna Wrestling
Kaukauna High School Wrestling was first introduced to Kaukauna High School in 1964, a decade after the
school dropped boxing. Don Jensen was the first coach and accumulated a 34-19-3
record over four years. The program struggled at the high school level
throughout the 1970’s due to the absence of a feeder program. The organization
of a city recreation youth program by Gary Landreman and Dick Bentley near the
end of the decade made an immediate impact when the high school’s fourth coach,
the late Don Kilgas, took over in 1981. During Kilgas’ tenure, Kaukauna went
131-26-1 in duals, and won three Fox Valley Association championships.
Coach Kilgas’ success on the mats was continued by the co-coaching duo of Steve McDaniel and Jeff Matczak from 1993-2001. Over this nine-year period they amassed a record of 124-19-2 and won 28 tournament championships. In 1998 a middle school wrestling team was implemented, giving another boost to an already well established program, as well as the expansion of the city recreation program to include kindergarten through second graders. The originator and first coach was Bob Koehler and he coined it the “Kasper” program….the friendly ghosts!
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