Gary Egan, son of James and Mary Egan, was born and raised in Omro, Wisconsin. He was the oldest of eleven children and has three brothers and seven sisters, all of whom were involved with wrestling in one way or another.
Gary began wrestling in his sophomore year of high school, wrestled all three years, and was voted team captain as a senior. The program was led by Ed Goss. Ed's thrill and enjoyment of wrestling inspired Gary who later incorporated this enthusiasm into his own philosophy. From 1966-70 he attended U.W. LaCrosse where he wrestled under the leadership of Bill Floyd for three years.
Following graduation from U.W. LaCrosse in 1970, Gary accepted a high school history teaching position in Marshall, Wisconsin. Gary became head wrestling coach and assistant football coach his first year at Marshall. After 3 years he became an elementary Physical Education teacher, a position he still holds today. The Marshall teams compiled a 225-48-1 record with Gary as the head coach. His teams won 11 conference championships (65 champions), eight regional championships (62 champions), three sectional championships (17 champions) and qualified for the 1st state team tournament his final year as head coach. He had 28 state qualifiers and 18 place winners with one state champion. Gary was also Conference Coach of the Year 14 times as well as District 6 Coach of the Year in 1992. He has remained an assistant wrestling coach for the past 11 years and also coaches junior high track.
In 1975-1990 Gary organized and ran numerous AAU Youth Wrestling tournaments. In 1975 he coached the Wisconsin wrestling team at the National Tournament in Lincoln, Nebraska. In 1977 he was the Wisconsin Junior Olympic team coach on their international trip to Japan. In 1979-1980 he hosted numerous Japanese international teams.
Gary became involved with the Wrestling Coaches Association as a member in 1970. He was an area representative from 1978-81. In 1982 he was elected president-elect and held the position of president in 1984 and 1985l. In 1984-85 he chaired the state Wrestling Rules Advisory Committee. He was one of the founders of the present coaches' clinic and the existing induction ceremony of the Wisconsin Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He also served as an area representative of the Federation of Coaches Association from 1982-1988.
Gary feels that his 1991-92 season was the most memorable, not because the team went to the first state team tournament, but for what the wrestlers achieved after high school. The team included 19 members of whom 12 graduated from college and 8 became teachers and coaches. Gary's son, Anthony, is now a teacher and was a member of that team as well.
Gary and his wife, Kathy, a Health Unit Coordinator Educator at Meriter Hospital in Madison, live in Marshall. He has two sons, James, who is a research assistant at Harvard Medical School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Anthony, who is an 8th grade Social Studies teacher in Manhattan, New York City. He has two stepchildren, Mike, who is in the Air Force stationed in Tucson, Arizona, and Nick who lives and works in Sun Prairie.