One of Minnesota's All-Time career coaching win leaders and true coaching legends is Paynesville's Virg Vagle. Vagle coached wrestling for 39 years, football for 32, and junior high baseball for 18. His Bulldog wrestling teams won 17 section championships, 30 conference titles, including an 18 year unbeaten streak from 1975 to 1993. They captured 4 State Championships in 1987, '90,'91 and 2000. Nine individual wrestlers captured state titles, and Pat Neu went on to capture an NCAA title while wrestling for the University of Minnesota. Vagle's 1991 team finished the season ranked among the top ten in the USA, quite a feat for a small school. In 1997 Vagle became the career record holder for wrestling coaching victories in Minnesota. That same year he was named runner-up for National Coach of the year honors by Wrestling USA magazine. All this from a guy who has never wrestled a competitive match in his life! Virg played football and basketball in high school and college! He learned the sport of wrestling by reading books. He already had the other skills to coach, he just needed to learn the sport. It's a fantastic story when you consider his success as a wrestling coach. Vagle has served as Section representative to the Section 5A administrative committee. He also served as a District 20 wrestling rep. Beyond these contributions he has been a guest clinician for several camps over the years. One of those being the Greg Schwartz memorial camp, named after his step son. He has helped in the growth and development of Minnesota high school wrestling. As a football coach his teams won four conference titles and he coached in the 1980 Minnesota All-State game. He holds numerous conference and section "Coach of the Year" honors in both football and wrestling. He was also inducted into the Dave Bartelma - Minnesota Wrestling Hall of Fame, as well as the West Central Tribune Newspaper Sports Hall of Fame. Virg was selected to coach in the 2006 USA Dream Team Classic in Dallas, Texas. Two books, "Legends and Legacies - Celebrating A Century of Minnesota Coaches," and "Grappling with Glory - Celebrating a Century of Minnesota Wrestling and Rassling, feature Coach Vagle. A graduate of Oak Grove Lutheran High School in Fargo, North Dakota and Augsburg College in Minneapolis. He holds a Masters Degree from St. Cloud State University. He, and his wife, Pat, have seven children. Not only was Virg able to coach his five sons in high school but he served as a father figure to many young men over the years. Coach Vagle's reputation and contributions to young people will last for years to come. His legacy in Minnesota high school wrestling will last forever.