Fran McCann has devoted over 40 years of coaching to the sport of wrestling. At Winona State, Indiana State, Notre Dame and at the high school level. McCann's teams have always been highly successful. As a participant, McCann was a success too. His collegiate career began at Oklahoma State which was the top collegiate wrestling program at that time where he placed second in the Big Eight conference tournament. He later transferred to the University of Iowa before his junior season to be closer to home and earned All-American honors in the 115 pound class with a fourth-place finish in the 1962 NCAA Championship. He came from a wrestling family as his brother, Terry, was an NCAA national champion and 1960 Olympic Champion. It was at Winona State in Minnesota where Fran McCann first formulated his NAIA Hall of Fame credentials, after one year of helping at St. Cloud State, In 1970, McCann's team placed third in the NAIA national tournament and he was voted NAIA Wrestling "Coach of the year." His Winona State teams also finished in the top twenty from 1972 to 1976. His dual meet record at Winona State won an impressive 50-20-2, including a 15-0-1 unbeaten season in 1969-70. Two of his Winona teams won the tough Northern Intercollegiate Conference (NIC) and were conference runner-ups on three occasions. He was twice named NIC "Coach of the Year," and coached 17 All-Americans while at Winona. 12-time national AAU Champion and Winona State All-American Jim Tanniehill is considered McCann's greatest wrestler he coached there. Upon leaving Winona State in 1976, McCann spent eight years at Indiana State University, Terry Haute, Indiana. There he coached an NCAA National Champion and future World and 2-time Olympic Champion, Bruce Baumgartner. Baumgartner is still considered the greatest heavyweight in USA history with an astounding 13 World medals to his credit. McCann's Indiana State team placed as high as seventh at the NCAA Division I tournament in 1982. From Indiana State McCann moved on to coach at Notre Dame University and was making great strides in putting that team on the mat at the Division I level. Unfortunately politics forced Notre Dame to drop the wrestling program. Since that time McCann has served as a volunteer assistant at Penn High School in South Bend, Indiana. He still teaches physical education classes at Notre Dame. McCann has also done officiating for some 40 years, 25 years at the collegiate level. McCann is a member of the NAIA Hall of Fame, Indiana Wrestling Hall of Fame, and now the Minnesota Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. He has been honored with other awards along the way. Former wrestler, Bruce Baumgartner, now Director of Athletics, at Edinbourgh University in Pennsylvania states: "As I look back at the people that have influenced my life the most, Fran McCann is definitely high on my list. With his coaching, I was able to go from a state high school place winner to an NCAA champion. Coach McCann was instrumental in my development as a person and a wrestler. He helped me become the Olympic and World Champion," says Baumgartner. "Coach McCann has given much to the sport of wrestling.He had a passion for teaching wrestling and elementary, junior high and high school wrestlers enjoyed working with him. He has helped countless boys become successful young men."