Fred Burri’s Swiss background introduced him to schwingen (wrestling) as a youth.

He wrestled at the Multnomah Wrestling Club in Portland and earned a wrestling scholarship at Oregon State, where he also played football.

Recruited to coach football at Whittier College with NFL Hall of Fame Coach George Allen, Fred also began a wrestling program.

He then went to Cal High and began their wrestling program, convincing the school district to introduce wrestling in all of their high schools.

Fred then went to Mt. San Antonio College, where he made an enduring impact on Mt. SAC and the wrestling program during his 34-year career as head coach, from 1957 to 1992.

Throughout his Mt. SAC career, Burri coached nine individual state champions, including Terry Martin and Larry Watanabe, both members of the Mt. SAC Athletic Hall of Fame. He also coached 15 All-Americans and more than 60 individual state championship placers.

Beyond Mt. SAC and wrestling, Burri is renowned for his yodeling. For 17 years, from the 1960s through the 1970s, he entertained the patrons of Disneyland's Matterhorn with his powerful voice and accordion playing Swiss Folk music and Yodeling Tunes. As a result, Burri released three albums (Fred Burri Disneyland Yodeler) and toured worldwide to perform his Swiss Alpine music. He even had a cameo appearance in the 1995 major motion picture "A Walk in the Clouds."