Bill Verbeten, has coached the Wrightstown Wrestlers for 45 years. Bill is the son of William J. and Coletta Verbeten. Bill is the youngest of 10 children and was raised on a dairy farm in Greenleaf, WI. He attended Wrightstown High School, where he was a member of the Football, Wrestling and Baseball teams. After graduating in 1970, Bill was employed at Ariens Company in Brillion for 3 years and then at Giddings & Lewis in Kaukauna as a machinist for 15 years. In 1971, he married Shari. They have 6 children and 12 Grandchildren. Bill and Shari purchased the Verbeten family farm in 1977. A 420 veal calf barn was added in 1996. Retiring from the dairy business in 2006 and the veal calf business in 2012, Bill and Shari presently operate a 408 dairy/beef calf farm, as well as raising large beef animals for meat, and for their Grandkids to show at the Brown County Fair. They also cash crop. In 1971, with help from the American Legion, Bill began the Wrightstown Jr. Tiger Elementary wrestling program. He started the Elementary wrestling tournaments in 1975, which were first sponsored by the Wrightstown FFA Club. A few years later, Bill organized the Wrightstown Wrestling Club, which sponsors several fund-raising events to benefit the K-12 Wrightstown wrestlers, as well as several other area benefits. Bill became involved in the Wrightstown High School wrestling program in 1979, when he was accepted as assistant coach. Then in 1986, he was hired as the head wrestling coach"”a position he held until his retirement in 2016. The year Bill became assistant coach, Wrightstown's first wrestler qualified for the Individual State Tournament, and has continued to have qualifiers ever since. Wrightstown had it's first girl as a member of the team in 1998-1999, when Bill's daughter was needed at their 103 pound weight class. As a result, she was also the first girl to wrestle in state competition at Team State where the Wrightstown Tigers won their first Team State Championship. Two other girls would later join the team. Dennis Hall (a Silver medalist at the Olympics and a Gold Medalist in the World Cup competition) Wrestling Camps at Wrightstown began in 1996, when Bill decided it would be a great addition to the wrestling program. Out-of-state wrestling was introduced by Bill to the Wrightstown High School team in 1998, when they entered a tournament in Escanaba, MI. Other Out -of-State tournaments the team participated in are: KSA National Tournament in Orlando, FL., Dawg Pound Classic in Pensacola, FL., Richmond Invitational in Richmond, VA, The Clash in Rochester, MN., War on the Shore in Salisbury, MD., and The Deep South Bayou Duals in Baton Rogue, LA. These tournaments were attended by many different states and Wrightstown came home with several Championships as well as the knowledge of how different states wrestle. Also, Bill always made the trips a history learning event, as they would stop to see many different historical sights along the way. In 2013, the wrestling team began participating in the Festival Food Turkey Trot held in Green Bay, and ran for My Team Triumph"”a 5 mile race held on Thanksgiving Day. The wrestlers (angels) push individuals with physical disabilities (captains) in specialized running chairs. It enables the captains to be able to participate in a sport and cross the finish line! It is an awesome experience for the team to be able to help the less fortunate. The Wrightstown High School wrestling team has seen many accomplishments under the coaching guidance of Bill: 2 National Champions, 9 Individual State Champions, 73 Individual State place winners, 117 Individual State Qualifiers, 1 Individual State Tournament Championship in 2005, 140 Individual Conference Champions, 3 WIAA Division 111 Team State Championships in 1999, 2005, and 2006, 1 Team State Runner-up in 1998, 9 Team State appearances, 10 Team Sectional Championships, 17 Team Regional Championships, 18 Team Conference Championships, 12 were consecutive. In 2002, the Wrightstown wrestling team, School and Community received the WIAA/Rural Insurance Sportsmanship Award, which was acquired at the Team State Tournament. The team also received the Sportsmanship award at the Cheesehead Tournament in 2016. Personal awards received by Bill include District Coach of the Year 5 times, the Post Crescent Coach of the Year in 2005, The State Coach of the Year, Sectional Coach of the Year, Induction into the George Martin Hall of Fame, as well as the Press Gazette Coach of the year in 2006. Bill's coaching career record consists of over 400 wins. He also was a member of the WIAA Advisory Board for 2 years. Bill has coached and mentored many athletics. Many were inspired to become coaches themselves. He has had the privilege of coaching his own kids and extended family, and have many of them coach along side him as they graduated and came back to help out. All the wins, championships and awards are great, but one of the things Bill really enjoyed about wrestling is working with kids and helping them to become good people. He says "If you have kids who are in trouble and heading down the wrong path, send them to the wrestling room...I'll work with them, and I think we can turn them around and get them to be better people. The wrestlers became his 2nd family. Bill is also very active in the Wrightstown Community. He has been the Wrightstown Town Chairman since 1985, President of the Town of Wrightstown Planning Commission, and an usher at St. Clare Church, Askeaton site. Other sports have also played a big part in Bill's life. He played touch football for 18 years, and softball for 36 years, from which he now has retired to umpiring. The 7th and 8th grade football team in Wrightstown has been coached by Bill for IO years. Deer hunting is enjoyed by Bill in the fall. Bill would like to thank the Wrightstown School Board for giving him the opportunity to coach. He extends a special thank you to his family and all the coaches with whom he has had the pleasure of coaching, as well as the fans, community and the parents of the Wrightstown Wrestlers, and especially the wrestlers themselves, for making his coaching career so memorable and this award possible.