L-BF grad to be honored Saturday with induction into Wrestling Hall of Fame
Littlefork-Big Falls graduate Neil Ladsten never wrestled in college. However, that didn’t stop him from accepting the head wrestling coach position at the University of Minnesota Duluth in 1969.
It turned out to be a Hall of Fame decision.
Ladsten, who graduated from L-BF with 47 classmates in 1965, will be honored Saturday and enshrined in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum. The actual Hall of Fame is located in Stillwater, Okla., but Ladsten and six others will be honored Saturday at the Minnesota Chapter Banquet in Owatonna.
Phil Richards, the current CEO of North Star Resources in Minneapolis, will be honored as the state’s Outstanding American, while Ladsten and five others will be honored for Lifetime Service.
“That’s quite an honor,” Ladsten told The Journal on Tuesday.
Ladsten never thought he would make the Minnesota Hall of Fame, nonetheless at a national level, but he was proud of the honor and his excitement was contagious during a phone interview.
“The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to give it a try,” he said about his decision to become the wrestling coach at UMD.
Ladsten played football and graduated from UMD in 1969. There was an opening in the physical education department and Lloyd Peterson, the man who started the wrestling program as a club sport in 1968, approached Ladsten about taking that position, along with the wrestling coach position. However, Ladsten had already taken a high school teaching position in Stratford Wis. Fortunately for UMD, the administration at Stratford High School released Ladsten and he took the “last-minute, 11th-hour vacancy” at UMD. He never had formal wrestling training, but everything turned out grand.
For 26 seasons Ladsten led the Bulldogs, which lasted as a club sport for only a year and switched to a varsity sport before Ladsten took over. He led his teams to six conference titles (first in the MIAC, then in the Northern Sun), and he coached 30 All-Americans, according to a press release.
He missed the ’72 and ’73 seasons due to a military leave of absence as a U.S. Army military police officer during the Vietnam War, but returned and coached until the program was dropped following the 1995-96 season.
Even Tony Dungy, the former University of Minnesota football player and Super Bowl-winning head coach with the Indianapolis Colts, was quoted in a press release saying Ladsten was “A great coach, but an even better person.”
“Good old Tony,” Ladsten said.
The two met in the early 90s when UMD wrestling alumni were attempting to gather support for the program. Dungy, a big-time football player with the Gophers from 1973-76, was invited to Duluth and spoke on behalf of the program.
“Of course, I had to take him fishing on Lake Superior in return,” Ladsten joked.
The two have talked on several occasions.
Ladsten was one of only three wrestling coaches in the history of UMD. Peterson started everything and lasted a year, while Jerry Broselle took over when Peterson retired and lasted until Ladsten was hired.
Ladsten first heard he was being honored by the Hall of Fame from Tom Lamphere, a former International Falls wrestling coach who wrestled under Ladsten at UMD.
Ladsten also plans to attend this summer’s Littlefork-Big Falls School all-class reunion.
