One of the legendary coaches from Southwestern Minnesota is Eugene Hildebrandt out of St. James high School. This good humored and well liked coach had an amazing career with his teams , capturing two state championships and nine state tournament team appearances. A 1974 Mountain Lake High School grad, Eugene went on to Golden Valley Lutheran College where he earned an A.A. Degree. He then attended Mankato State University (now Minnesota State-Mankato), earning a B.S. Degree in 1981. Hildebrandt's first and only place of employment came at St. James High School where he was hired as a special education teacher in 1981. After 14 years teaching, Eugene took on the role of Dean of Students. He is currently in his 36th year working for the St. James School District. Eugene coached in several sports over the years. He served as a Wrestling Coach for 33 years (27 as a Head Coach), 19 years as Girls Softball Coach (2 years as Head Coach), 32 years coaching Varsity and Jr. High football, and one year coaching junior high basketball. 85 total seasons of coaching High School sports! Of course Eugene's greatest notoriety came as a head wrestling coach. His 1989 and 1998 teams captured state team titles and overall he coached 9 teams to state, with 12 South Conference championship teams, Served as MWCA President 2005-06, 471-132-2 overall coaching record in 27 seasons, add 2 - State Team 3rd placings and one 4th place State Team Placing, coached 112 Individual State qualifiers, coached 46 Individual State Place Finishers, served many years on the MWCA Activity Advisory Committee, served as Section/Region Rep 10+ years. For all his team's success, Coach Hildebrandt was honored as Minnesota Wrestling "Coach of the Year" twice in 1989 and 1998. He was also selected as Region/Section "Coach of the Year" eight times and was selected as 1990 and 1999 Minnesota vs Wisconsin "All-Star" Coach. He is enshrined in the St. James Wrestling Hall of Fame (2008), the Dave Bartelma-Minnesota Wrestling Hall of Fame (2003), the Minnesota State High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame (2015) and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Minnesota Wrestling Coaches Association (2016). St. James Athletic Director Les Zellmann says, "Eugene Hildebrandt is truly a student-centered coach. He is constantly encouraging kids to be out for a sport in every season. Our district has been greatly served by his dedication to coaching and his personal motivation to help kids in all sports. He has been a pillar in the wrestling community and he is responsible for many successes in our wrestling program. With consideration to Zellmann's comments above, Coach Hildebrandt's teams succeeded on both the sportsmanship and academic standing. Each year his teams qualified for State they earned the MSHSL Sportsmanship Award banner and All-Academic teams honors from the MWCA. Outside of wrestling, Hildebrandt has been a finalist for the Education Minnesota Human Rights Award because of his efforts to increase opportunities for all students. He has done this while working in his Dean of Students position at St. James High School. Finally, throughout Eugene's life and career as a teacher and coach his family has been his highest priority. Eugene says without hesitation that none of what he has accomplished would have been possible without the support of his wife Julie and their three children Sarah, Danielle and Ethan.