One of Minnesota's true coaching legends is Paul Ehrhard.

Ehrhard made the southern Minnesota community of Albert Lea a well-known name to sports fans across the state.

As an assistant coach in football and head coach in wrestling he helped guide teams to a combined 6 state championships.

As a football coach, Ehrhard was defensive coordinator and offensive line coach on teams that were three times named Minnesota's best by the Minneapolis Star & Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

As a head wrestling coach his Tiger teams captured three state championships, two individual team titles in 1966 and 1971, while winning one of the first Dual Meet Team titles in 1976.

Ehrhard is also a member of the Dave Bartelma Minnesota Wrestling Hall of Fame and a former Minnesota State Wrestling Coach of the Year.

A 1951 graduate of Montgomery High School he went on to play football and baseball at the College of St. Thomas where he became a three-time Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic All-Conference football player.

He was also introduced to the sport of wrestling at St. Thomas.

Ehrhard began his coaching career in 1956 at Kasson-Mantorville where he coached football, wrestling and baseball.

He moved to Albert Lea in 1957, serving as head football coach for 18 years and head wrestling coach for 20 years. Under Ehrhard's direction the Tigers of Albert Lea would capture 11 Big Nine Conference titles, 11 Region One (Section) titles and place in the top two 17 of 20 years. The Tigers captured 16 of 17 District Two titles. He coached 13 individual state champions.

At one point the Tigers won a string of 102 straight dual meet victories on the road, against one of the state's toughest schedules. His career coaching record at Albert Lea was 234-25-6.

A number of his wrestlers went on to capture All-American or NCAA national championship honors, including the legendary Chuck Jean (two-time NCAA Division I and two-time NAIA national champion), Jim Lunde, Larry Goodnature, Larry Kilstadius, Lew Kennedy, Neal Skaar, and Tom Jean. Gary Neist was a 1972 Greco-Roman Olympian.

A number of these have gone on to successful wrestling coaching careers, as well as Jerry Bakke at Buffalo and Dwight Gingerich at Rochester Mayo High Schools. Other success stories include Lew Kennedy in business, Jeff Brooke as a personal injury lawyer, and Dr. Bob Hatch as chairman of the history department at the University of Florida.

As a wrestling official, Ehrhard was among the most notable in the country working NCAA and NAIA national tournaments, as well as meets in the Big 10, Big 8, North Central, Northern Indiana, Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic and Iowa Athletic Conferences.

Ehrhard was also very active in the Minnesota Wrestling Coaches Association. He was part of a small group of coaches who took the dual meet format to the Minnesota State High School League for approval. This format change greatly increased the enthusiasm and attendance at the Minnesota state wrestling tournament.

As a camp clinician Ehrhard was the featured clinician at the nationally recognized Concordia College clinic for many years. He was also featured at the fall Minnesota wrestling coaches cClinic, as well as clinics at the University of Wisconsin, University of Minnesota, Iowa State University and others.

Lew Kennedy, Ehrhard's first state champion in 1960 recalls Coach Ehrhard's dedication to innovative ways to teach moves, "He used logic to always start at the beginning of a move and build on it from there. He was always totally prepared and had our opponents well scouted."

Gerry Bakke, one of Ehrhard's state place-winners at Albert Lea stated, "Coach Ehrhard had some detractors over the years because of his passion. He never talked to us about winning but only doing the best that we could. He set the bar high by his own preparation which he transferred to the team so we always felt we could win. No one wanted to win more than he did. Deep down to him winning the state championship was what really counted. However, he also knew that taking boys and turning them into men was his primary goal in coaching."

Paul Ehrhard was a great coach, motivator and a great leader of men.