Dow inducted into George Martin Wrestling Hall of Fame
Mel Dow
Prairie du Chien High School graduate and coach Mel Dow has been announced as a 2022 inductee into the George Martin Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Dow was Stoughton’s athletic director from 2010-2021 and served as tournament director of the USA Wrestling World Team Trials in 2014 and 2015. He also held a head coaching position at Prairie du Chien High School and was an assistant at UW-La Crosse from 1999-2000. Dow also founded and coached Wisconsin’s first visually impaired national wrestling team in 1996-1997.
As athletic director at Stoughton, Dow oversaw the Vikings win three straight team state championships from 2018-2020.
Dow’s son, Tyler, won a state championship in Stoughton in 2017, while Dow’s younger son Trenton qualified for the state tournament last season as a senior.
Dow is now an associate director for the WIAA. Dow’s responsibilities include the administration, coordination of duties and tournament planning for the sports of baseball, wrestling, and tennis. Other administrative duties include eligibility, coaching contact, camps, out-of-season participation, foreign students, sanctioning requests, and leading respective sport responsibility coaches and 7% committees.
Dow also is affiliated with the Wisconsin Wrestling Federation and the Wisconsin Wrestling Coaches Association. In addition, he has some connections with USA Wrestling and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Dow has also made contributions at the state and national level, serving on the WIAA Sports Advisory Council from 2018-21, the WIAA Sportsmanship Committee from 2014-19 and on the Strategic Plan Committee of the Wisconsin Athletic Directors Association.
Prairie du Chien Years
Prior to his position at Stoughton, Dow spent 11 years at Prairie du Chien High School as a physical education and adaptive physical education teacher. He also served as head wrestling coach from 2000-2010 and as an assistant coach in football and track and field. Dow was head coach of the school’s first ever conference championship team. Prairie du Chien High School wrestling also quadrupled the number of state qualifiers in school history under Dow who coached Prairie du Chien’s first state champion.
Other contributions included developing a student-athlete leadership group and serving as advisor of the Letter Winners Club, chairman of the athletic booster club, and the project chairman and designer of the weight room project.
“My time at Prairie du Chien is where I was inspired to grow professionally,” said Dow in a 2021 interview by the Courier Press of Prairie du Chien. “It started while I was a student with the support from Mr. Howard and Mr. Mulrooney and again when I returned to teach/coach under Mr. Bark and Mr. Banasik. Each in their own way demonstrated leadership as an administrator with a passion for athletics that helped form a career path for me. They all cared deeply about people, strived for being the best version of themselves, and fully committed to the task at hand.”
Dow is 1992 graduate of Prairie du Chien High School, where he participated in football, track and field and wrestling. He earned a master’s degree in education from UW-La Crosse in 2002 after receiving a bachelor of science degree in exercise and sports science from there in 1997.
Dow’s time in Prairie du Chien built a foundation of compassion for people, confidence, and work ethic by which he looks to help others across the state in the future.
Hall of Fame
The George Martin Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be on Friday, Nov. 4, at the Hyatt Regency in Green Bay. Other 2022 inductees include Dave Brandvold, Ed Kurth, Jamie Olson and Mark Peterson.
