Ironically, Brian Hage who would make a name for himself, first, as a wrestler in high school, then in college at Mankato State, and later in the United State Air Force, found his niche in life after failing to make the basketball team in high school.

As the story goes, he was asked by Hall of Fame wrestling coach Dick Black to give it a try, and never looked back.

Hage, who earned a Masters of Science in 1974, found his way to Georgia in 1972 and began his impressive career as an educator and coach in DeKalb County, a suburb of Atlanta.

His first stop was at Avondale High School, where he was a physical education teacher and also coached football, wrestling and track.

His exemplary coaching and success would later earn Hage athletic Hall of Fame recognition at Avondale, and later at two other high schools in the Atlanta area, first at Redan High School, also in DeKalb, and later at Harrison High School in Cobb County.

Brian won state titles at each school and was the only coach to ever win back-to-back titles in 2 different classifications at 2 different schools.

Hage is also a member of the Georgia Coaches Hall of Fame and the Cobb County Hall of Fame.