Gerry is a 1974 graduate of Cedar Grove-Belgium High School. While in high school, Gerry was a member of the football and wrestling team. In 1975 when he was approached by the high school principal, Pat Baggot to coach the junior high wrestling program. Gerry never dreamed the end result would be this great honor. After high school, he farmed with his brother-in-law until 1977. Soon after that he was employed on the third shift at the Kohler Company in the maintenance department. For the past 28 years he has been at the Spiller Spring Company in Sheboygan as Maintenance Supervisor. Gerry was very fortunate that his employers recognized the importance of community involvement and he was able to keep coaching.

Working his full time job plus a seasonal truck driving job, coaching from the high school season in November and ending with the Badger State Games in July took a lot of time and commitment away from the family. Gerry was fortunate to have their support. Vacations consisted of driving two days, sitting in a gym for two days, and driving home again. Often the children would stay home with Mom, grandma, or their aunt.

The first few years of the twenty-five were spent with the Junior High Wrestlers, assistant high school coach and beginning the youth program. Since becoming head coach at Cedar Grove-Belgium High School in 1982, his overall dual record is 194-80-3. His teams have accomplished 4 Central Lakeshore Conference Titles, 7 appearances at Team Sectionals since they began in 1992 through 2000, two appearances at the WIAA State Team Tournament, and many individual team tournament championships. He has coached 62 Central Lakeshore Conference Champions, 111 Regional Place winners (1st/2nd), 49 Sectional Place winners (1st/2nd), and 39 State Place winners - including four State Champions, three 2nd Place, nine 3rd Place, six 4th Place, nine 5th Place, and eight 6th Place.

Gerry has been nominated for WWCA District Coach of the Year many times and his team also has been ranked in the top 10 in Division 3 for many, many years. He has coached many young wrestlers at State and National levels in Folkstyle, Freestyle, and Greco for the Wisconsin Wrestling Federation. Gerry is an active member of the Wisconsin Wrestling Coaches Association.

Gerry started the club program for the Cedar Grove-Belgium area and oversees the Cedar Grove-Belgium Wrestling Memorial Scholarship awarded to a graduating Senior wrestler.

After the 2000 season, Gerry stepped down from coaching. His son, Trevor was the assistant coach for 4 years under head coach Kent Weiler and has since taken over the head coaching job. Dad is still around to offer moral support to Trevor and as a volunteer coach.

Gerry`s free time is now spent at their family cabin in Pembine, Wisconsin. While up north, he enjoys hunting, fishing and trail riding on their four-wheelers. He enjoys shooting pool, playing sheepshead, the Packers, the Brewers, and spending time with the grandkids & kids both upnorth and at home.

Gerry has also been active in the community. He was a member of the Cedar Grove Fire Department for six years, Cedar Grove First Responders for four years, Cedar Grove Jaycees, and 4H baseball coach for seven years.

Gerry has been married to his wife Laurie for 37 years. They have two daughters, Michelle & husband David Deppiesse, and Heather & husband Jason DeRuyter, and one son, Trevor. They also have four grandchildren, Jonathan and Mason Deppiesse and Sawyer and Allie DeRuyter. All of them live in Cedar Grove within a four block radius.

There are so many people to thank for the success of the Cedar Grove-Belgium wrestling program. I would like to try and thank a few of them that worked very close to me. First my wife, Laurie and children Michelle, Heather and Trevor for allowing me to spend so much time away from home and their interests and making my dreams theirs. A special thanks to Tim Hatfield, my loyal assist coach for 13 years; I could not have achieved any of my goals without his technical and moral support. Thanks to all the wrestlers and parents for all their help and in closing I would like to thank the school board and administrators for trusting and supporting me for all those years.

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