The National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma, will bestow Lifetime Service Awards on six area men at a banquet held at Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells on August 16. The award is a national honor, but the banquet is held locally to accomodate friends and families of the honorees.
The award recognizes people who have devoted a lifetime as coaches, referees, scorers, benefactors, etc. to the sport of wrestling. All of the honorees have more than twenty years of service to the sport of wrestling.
In addition to being honored at the banquet, the recipients will have their names permanently enshrined in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
This year's honorees are Lee Ecklund of Wisconsin Heights, the Evans Family (Don, Dale, and Steve) of DeForest, Mitch Hull of Evansville, and Jim Stephenson of Waunakee.

Lee Ecklund served as assistant wrestling coach at Wisconsin Heights High School in Mazomanie for 38 years. During that span of years, Wisconsin Heights produced five state champions.
From 1971 until 1991, Lee served as the official scorer for the WIAA State Wrestling Tournament. In 1978, Lee set up the first computerized Wisconsin State Tournament scoring system. In 1991 Lee assumed the role of Administrative Assistant at the state tournament. That position ultimately led to Lee's being named bout coordinator of the state tournament.
Altogether, Lee logged thirty-seven years at the head table of the WIAA State Tournament
Lee also coached cross-country, basketball, and track at Wisconsin Heights.
Lee retired from teaching in 2003. He and his wife Peg live in Verona.

The Evans family of DeForest has been involved in wrestling in Wisconsin ever since Don went out for wrestling at Madison East High School in 1942. There was one brief interruption while Don served in the Navy during WW II.
When the war was over, Don enrolled in the University of Wisconsin and wrestled for the Badgers in 1946-47. A generation later, Steve, a two-time state champion at Deforest H.S., turned down an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy to wrestle at Wisconsin. When Duane Kleven became coach of the Badgers following the tragic death of George Martin, Steve Evans was his first recruit.
A missed phone call was all the kept older brother Dale from wrestling for the Badgers. He did, however, wrestle for UW-Stout where he was the first-ever four-time WSUC conference champion. He was also a two-time NAIA All-American. From 1974-1979, Dale served as assistant coach for the Badgers.
As good as the Evanses were as competitors, their off-mat contributions to the sport are equally or even more impressive.
Don was the first president of the Wisconsin Weigh-In Club and has been a very generous donor to Wisconsin wrestling. When the Russian Olympic team wrestled in the Field House in 1973, it was Don Evans who footed the bill. That was just one of many such instances of the Evans family's generosity.
Now that Don has retired, Steve and Dale continue the traditon.
In addition to being benefactors, Dale and Steve have years of coaching service between them. Dale has been coaching wrestling--freestyle, Greco, high school, and middle school for 38 years. He also served as president of the Wisconsin Wrestling Federation.
Steve has also been coaching wrestling, primarily high school, for many years. Since 2006, Steve has been head coach of the Madison Edgewood/Monona Grove team.
Don and his wife Joan live in Reno, Nevada. Steve and his wife Julie live in Madison. Dale and his wife Debbie life in Deforest.

Mitch Hull earned ten letters in football, wrestling, and track at Evansville high School. In 1975, Mitch became EHS's first wrestling state champion. Later that same year, Mitch became Wisconsin's first Junior National champion. In fact, he won both the freestyle and the Greco national titles that year..
After graduating from high school, Mitch went to Kansas State to play football. He then transferred to the University of Wisconsin where he wrestled three years for the Badgers. As a junior and as a senior in Madison, Mitch was the Big Ten champion at 190 pounds. He was also an All-American both of those years.
After graduating from U.W., Mitch concentrated on international wrestling. He is one of only two U.S. wrestlers in the past forty years to compete in the World Championships in both freestyle and Greco. In 1984, Mitch finished second in the Olympic Trials.
From 1980-1986, Mitch assisted Russ Hellickson as coach of the Badgers. In 1986, he became assistant coach at Purdue and two years later became the head coach of the Boilermakers. While at Purdue, Mitch coach Charlie Jones to a national championship.
In 1992, Mitch became the National Teams Director for USA Wrestling. As National Teams Director, he has overseen the preparation and organization of the USA Olympic team for the past five Olympic Games.
Two months ago, Mitch was the moving force behind a wrestling camp to raise money for Jake Janes, a former Evanville High School wrestler who lost both legs in the war in Afghanistan.
Mitch and his wife Peggy live in Colorado Springs

Jim Stephenson grew up in Pennsylvania where he was a standout in football and wrestling in high school. After high school, Jim was part of a very good wrestling team at Lock Haven University, but he wanted to study biology and to live close to the wild. So he transferred to UW-Superior where he wrestled for the legendary Mertz Motorelli.
A year as a graduate assistant at UWS and a year with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Arizona preceded his hiring by Waunakee High School. His tenure at Waunakee was interrupted by a five year hiatus to go back to his home town in Pennsylvania to coach.
By the time he retired in 1997, Jim's teams had amassed a 237-199-3 record. He had coached 45 conference champions and 29 state qualifiers, two of whom were state champions.
In addition to his coaching, Jim has been very active in the Wisconsin Wrestling Coaches Association. He chaired the committee that established the George Martin Wrestling Hall of Fame. Jim actually inducted that charter class in 1977.
In 2001, Jim was inducted into the George Martin Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Presently, Jim chairs the Wisconsin Wrestling Coaches Association Alumni Chapter. He edited the first edition of Wisconsin Wrestling--1940-2007 .
Jim and his wife Wenona live in Waunakee.

National Wrestling Hall of Fame Banquet
August 16, 2009
Social Hour 4:00 P.M.
Dinner 5:00 P.M.
Program approx. 6:00 P.M
Tickets $35.00

Contact: Joe Kaster thecrossface@sbcglobal.net 608-758-8758