Iowa History Daily: On April 11, 1985, four-time state champion high school wrestler from Osage Mark Schwab committed to the University of Northern Iowa. Argued to represent perhaps the most dominant high school wrestlers in Iowa’s history, Schwab stood out on the mat as a part of one of the state’s most prolific wrestling families.
Schwab put the state on notice as a dominant high school wrestler while posting a 106-1 record while wrestling for Bill Andrews Osage. A first-team All-American and four-time winner at Junior National Championships, Schwab’s only loss in high school came by a single point during his freshman year.
Iowa’s sixth ‘four-timer,’ Schwab decided to head down to Cedar Falls and join Don Briggs’s Panthers. In his freshman year, Schwab showed great promise while wrestling at 118 pounds. A fifth place finish at nationals during his freshman campaign in 1986, Schwab suffered a staph infection following a knee surgery the following spring. Eight more surgeries followed, and despite the struggles Schwab managed to capture a sixth place finish in the 1990 NCAA nationals.
Schwab, part of one of Iowa’s great wrestling families alongside his brothers Mike and Doug, continued to give back to the sport after his career ended. An assistant at UNI, Purdue, and Minnesota, Schwab got his first head coaching job at Buena Vista in Storm Lake. In 2008, Schwab took over the reins of the North Iowa Area Community College wrestling program as the program sought to reestablish success after a long hiatus. He then went on to serve as an assistant coach for his brother Doug, now the head coach at UNI. #IowaOTD #IowaHistoryDaily #IowaHistoryCalendar
Comments