Don Krusemark receives his Hall of Fame plaque from his college coach, Fran McCann, at a ceremony on April 23.

Former Blue Earth wrestler Don Krusemark was inducted in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame during an April 23 Honors Banquet of the Minnesota Chapter of the organization.

Krusemark was recognized as a 2022 Lifetime Service Honoree.

On hand to present the award to Krusemark was Fran McCann.

McCann was Krusemark’s college coach at Indiana State University 45 years ago.

Krusemark was a three-sport athlete in Blue Earth and was a two-time South Central Conference wrestling champion, a two-time District 5 champion while also winning the Section 2 championship once.

He was a member of the 1974 Buccaneer wrestling team which finished third in the state in a one-class system.

In college, he first wrestled for Rochester Community College (RCC) where he was a two-time State junior college champion, junior college Regional champion, and two-time National Junior College Athletic Association qualifier.

After RCC, he attended and wrestled at Indiana State University (ISU) where he shared the “Athlete of the Year” Award with NBA legend, Larry Bird.

He was the captain of the ISU wrestling team his senior year and was named the most valuable wrestler his senior season.

After college, he was the United States Wrestling Federation State Champion for the Winona Wrestling Club.

He was a five-time Minnesota State Senior Open Champion in addition to a three-time State Senior Team champion.

One of the biggest matches of Krusemark’s career was in 1980 when he defeated 1972 Olympian Gary Neist 8-2.

He would go on to teach and coach at Amboy-Good Thunder and Byron before taking a position at Mankato West in 1987 where he coached football, ,wrestling and softball.

Although he retired from coaching wrestling in 2011, he continues to coach softball at Mankato West and is currently in his 23rd year as the head coach and 35th year in teaching at the school and 44th year of teaching overall.

On receiving the award, Krusemark said, “Fran, my coach at Indiana State, is a National Hall of Fame coach. My coach at Blue Earth, Dick Maher, was also a Hall of Fame coach as was my coach at RCC, John Philo. So, as you can see, I had a lot of role models in my journey.”

Krusemark was also inducted into the Minnesota Wrestling “David Bartelma” Hall of Fame in 2021 and the Mankato Area Softball Hall of Fame in 2011.