Scott Arneson (Arnie) was born on August 29th, 1965 in Mason City, Iowa to his proud parents, David and Judith Arneson. He was raised in Iowa with his older brother, Shane, and his younger sister, Kelly, until the family moved to Rhinelander during Scott's 6th grade summer. While in Iowa, starting in 5th grade, he participated in some wrestling but his love and dedication to the sport of wrestling didn't begin until he was in Rhinelander. During his high school wrestling career as a Hodag, Scott qualified for the state tournament 3 times and won the WIAA Individual State Title in as a senior in 1984. In addition to the regular high school wrestling season, Scott took part in both Freestyle and Greco Roman wrestling for Team Wisconsin. He was an All-American in Greco Roman Wrestling by placing 5 at the USA Wrestling Summer National Tournament. Upon graduation from Rhinelander High School in 1984, Scott relocated to Platteville, Wisconsin, where he attended UW Platteville and earned a teaching degree in both health and physical education. While at UW Platteville, Scott continued his wrestling career. He wrestled all 4 years at UW Platteville where he was a 4X National Qualifier, a 2X NCAA All-American, a 2X NCAA Academic All-American, a 3X Conference Champion and was voted Outstanding Wrestler for the WIAC Conference his senior year. He was also a team captain for 3 years. Following his senior year, Scott was an assistant college coach for the university for 1 year, while completing a teaching practicum and internship. In addition to the regular season, he continued to participate in Wisconsin's Freestyle and Greco Roman Program, but as a coach. After graduating from college in 1989, Scott took a teaching job in Merrill. He got married to his wife, Lauriel and they have three kids: Brooke, Scott T. and Erica. He has held various teaching positions over the years at both the middle school and the high school. Last year was Scott's 26th year coaching wrestling in Merrill. During the first several years, he alternated between the middle school and the high school programs. Eventually Roger Wendorf retired, and Scott became the new head wrestling coach-"”a position he has held for 17 years. During those years, the teams put together an overall dual meet record of 300-88. Both individuals and teams accomplished a great deal during this time. Scott, along with his impressive coaching staff, led 58 individual trips to the state tournament, where 32 times, the wrestler stood somewhere on the podium - 7 times as state champions. The coaching staff also led some entire teams to some pretty impressive moments. Some of these team accomplishments include: A First-place team finish in the WIAA Individual Tournament State Championship 2014, WIAA Team State Runner-Ups 2006, WIAA Team State Semi-Finalist 2004, 2005 and 2014, and a WIAA Individual Tournament 3rd Place finish in 2013. In addition to coaching wrestling in Merrill, Scott offered many wrestling camps around the state of Wisconsin. He also created the Northern Exposure Training site in 1990 where wrestlers from around north and central Wisconsin came to be trained in both Freestyle and Greco Roman styles. During the summer, Scott coached and continues to coach high school aged wrestlers in both styles for the state of Wisconsin. For the past 15 years Scott has been the lead coach for Team Wisconsin in Greco Roman wrestling. Scott has earned honors at all levels throughout Wisconsin. He has been recognized in the Rhinelander Athletic Hall of Fame, the Rhinelander Wrestling Hall of Fame, the UW Platteville Athletic Hall of Fame, the Merrill wrestling Hall of Fame and the Wisconsin Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame. In addition to these great honors, he was also named coach of the year for the state of Wisconsin. And last but not least; Scott is being inducted into the National Hall of Fame.