Born in Brown Deer and the youngest of six, John graduated from Marquette High School (Milwaukee) where he contributed to the strong tradition of Hilltopper Athletics. As an athlete at Marquette, John wrestled and was a state finalist for John Pfannerstill, was a 2-way starter in football for Hall of Famers Dick Basham and Terry Kelly and was All-State Tournament in baseball for Bob Brezinski and Rick Bridich. Upon graduation he went to Marquette University and finished earning his degree at UW-Milwaukee with a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in History.
His coaching career began at Marquette High School where he served as a wrestling assistant. The following season, 1984, John was hired to be the varsity assistant coach at Whitnall HS. After 4 practices Coach Bordon had to resign to run his family business and at 20 years old John was hired on as the Head Coach of a program that had 9 wrestlers and was coming off of a 3-17 record the past two seasons. The Falcons started out 0-8 but as a few more wrestlers were talked into coming out they finished off the year 3-10. The second year saw the numbers rise and their fortunes increased as they won their first tournament since 1964 and tied for first in the conference tournament. The 3 rd season saw the Falcons win their first dual meet conference championship in school history and the program has been very successful ever since. In his 29 years at Whitnall the Falcons have posted a record of 464-176, winning 18 conference titles, 36 team tournament titles, 7 WIAA Regional titles, a WIAA Sectional title, and a team state appearance. John has had the pleasure of coaching 95 individual conference champs, 64 state qualifiers, 10 state place winners and 2 state champions. Quinlan has served 3 terms as the WWCA District 7 Representative and was the 1995 District 7 Coach of the Year. He has also been very proud of the Zelinski Memorial Duals, one of the premier dual tournaments in the state held annually at Whitnall. Administered by countless volunteers, the tournament has provided over $80,000 in scholarships.
The Falcons have also done quite a bit of traveling in the past decade as they have gone out of state over the Christmas break and have wrestled teams from 22 different states including PA, FL, AZ, CA, OK, TX, LA, SC, OH, MO, WY, GA, NJ, and more. Along the way they have seen some of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, taken in NFL and NCAA Bowl Games, swam in the ocean, played at Disneyworld, and visited the site of the JFK assassination. A wrestler favorite has definitely been the regional cooking from crab cakes, BBQ, Jambalaya, crawfish, fresh lobster, and many other local favorites.
John also coached football for 15 years, 10 seasons at Marquette HS and 5 at Whitnall. He coached the Women?s fast pitch team at Marquette University for 2 seasons with 7 seasons at Whitnall to follow. He also coached golf at West Allis Hale for 2 years. John was a Tournament Director for the Wisconsin PGA for 10 years before landing his current job as the Public Service Director for Milwaukee County where he has been for the past 9 years.
John has surrounded himself with great assistant coaches that have not only been vital to the success of the program but have been some of his closest friends. His brother Kevin worked side by side with him for 9 seaons. Jeff Semrad, Jim and John Zelinski, Mike Howard, Dan Keske, and Jim McMahon are just a few that helped out over the years. Craig Austin came from Muskego in 2003 and since 2006 has been co-head coach. John would like to thank his son Connor, girlfriend Deanna, and Sisters Kathleen, Maureen, Patti, and Eileen for their love and support over the years.