Fred Lehrke was a competitive athlete growing up and played football and threw the discus and shotput at La Crosse Central High School and also played football for UW-LA Crosse.  

He served in the Navy, stationed in Pearl Harbor serving as a submariner and playing on the Pacific Fleet football team.  Fred wanted to be a teacher and football coach. At one school he was told he would have to coach wrestling if he wanted to coach football and coached the first wrestling match he ever saw.  

Fred began his coaching career at Oregon High School (Oregon, Wisconsin) in 1963.

In three years Fred turned out a conference championship team and compiled a 24-9 dual meet record.

After three years at Oregon, Lehrke moved on to Kettle Moraine High School (Wales, Wisconsin) and in two years produced another conference championship squad.

In 1970 Fred left Kettle Moraine with a 42-18-1 record to accept a teaching and head coaching position at Monroe High School (Monroe, Wisconsin). In just three years he produced a Wisconsin state championship team. His squad won the Badger Conference championship and built a 27-8 record.

Fred eventually moved on to D.C. Everest High School (Schofield, Wisconsin). In 1978 Lehrke's D.C. Everest team won the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association state championship.

It was the first time in the history of Wisconsin wrestling that a wrestling coach had state championship teams at two different high schools.

In seven years at D.C. Everest, Fred's record was 60-24, giving him a career record of 153-59-1 going into the 1980-81 season.

He finished his career with state wrestling championships at Monroe in 1973 and D.C. Everest in 1978, 1982 and 1986.

A member of the Wisconsin Chapter of the United States Wrestling Federation-Wisconsin Chapter, he has served as vice president and president of the Wisconsin Wrestling Federation and was a coach of the USWF Wisconsin Junior National Team.

He is also a member of the Wisconsin Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Fred and his wife Sally also contributed conducting summer freestyle wrestling tournaments in Wisconsin.