Tom Gravalin was born and raised in Moorhead, right across the street from a hockey rink, and grew up playing hockey. He wore thick glasses, and his dad finally told him to find another sport because he was tired of having to buy new glasses every time Tom broke them while playing hockey. Tom went out for basketball for three weeks and then happened to stop at the wrestling room to watch practice for a few minutes on his way to the locker room and thought, “This is my sport.” Tom went out for wrestling the next day and never looked back.

Moorhead had a strong wrestling program under the direction of Hall of Famer Ron Gadberry. Gravalin became a solid wrestler, but he was wrestling in the District Tournament and was trying to pin his opponent with a guillotine. He laid back a little too far and pinned himself (with a 15-3 lead), and that was the end of his high school wrestling career. Tom was not ready to end his wrestling career on that note and went out for wrestling at Moorhead State, but as a sophomore,e he broke a couple of ribs the first hour of practice and was done for the season.

Junior High Coach Vern Nolting approached Tom with an offer to help out by coaching wrestling at the junior high level, and Tom accepted. It was a blast. He was hooked.

After graduating from Moorhead State with an Industrial Arts degree, Gravalin was hired to teach and coach wrestling at Erskine, Minnesota, where he spent two enjoyable years before taking an Industrial Arts teaching position and an Assistant Wrestling position at Fosston. After two years, Gravalin took the reins and went on a 23-year run that put Fosston on the wrestling map with 35 State Qualifiers and seven place-winners, as well as a State Team Qualification in 1990. Tom retired from teaching and coaching in 2005 and took over as Fosston’s athletic director, continuing to stay involved with wrestling as an administrator, serving as the Section 8AA Wrestling Tournament Director and the director of Fosston’s invitational tournaments. Gravalin served as a Section Rep for the MWCA as well as a Section 8 Representative for the Minnesota State High School League for 14 years.