Pete Sippel was born in Plymouth, Wisconsin in 1948 and attended Elkhart Lake High School for 4 years earning 10 major letters in four different sports, football, basketball, track, and baseball. He went on to college at UW-Oshkosh where he lettered in track and earned his teaching degree in mathematics, history, and geography.
When Pete accepted a position at Amherst High School teaching mathematics in 1970, it was already a hot-bed for wrestling with a strong tradition for winning. Although he spent his first year as an assistant football and head track coach, the retirement of long time wrestling coach, Fran Bremmer left a gap with no one qualified to fill. With the encouragement of a group of wrestlers, Pete took on the task of head coach and remained in that position for the next 28 years. In those years, Pete compiled a 199-125-6 dual meet record overall with 156 of those wins coming in the Central Wisconsin Conference.
He had 4 conference championships, 5 regional championships, 2 sectional championships, 1 runner-up title for team points in the 1993 WIAA State individual tournament and his team compiled the most team points in the 1998 State Individual Tournament in Division 3. He had the honor of coaching 60 conference champions, 43 regional champs, 13 sectional champs, 23 state qualifiers of which 21 won medals, 6 runner-up place winners and 4 state champions including one undefeated wrestler, Jamie Karpinski (37-0) in 1993. Pete has represented the WWCA and the state of Wisconsin in the 1994 Minnesota-Wisconsin Wrestling Classic as the Division 3 head coach.
Pete feels that much of his success is due to the loyalty of his wrestlers who worked unselfishly with teammates in school and returned after graduation to pass on their expertise to younger wrestlers. He also credits the strong support from the parents and community over the years for the sport of wrestling. But most of the credit goes to Tom Krutza. Tom wrestled for Pete at Amherst during his first years as a head coach and subsequently came back as an assistant and eventual co-coach for Pete's last 15 years in wrestling. It was during those 15 years that most of the highlights occurred.
It was only the advancement to an administration position that led to the retirement as a wrestling coach. Pete remains active in wrestling by serving as meet manager of several post-season WIAA regional and sectional wrestling tournaments held at Amherst. In addition to coaching wrestling, Pete has coached teams at the state tournament in cross country, track, and coached a WIAA state championship golf team in 2001. Pete is also the co-founder of the Amherst Coaches Club which has been active for the past 18 years and has raised, and spent, in excess of $100,000 for the benefit of all extra-curricular groups in the Amherst area. He has logged over 30 years as a WIAA official in volleyball and basketball and over 20 years in football. He is truly dedicated to the youth in education and in athletics.
Pete, who continues in his position as principal at Amherst High School, has been married to his wife Jean for 36 years. Their oldest son Scott lives in Dousman, Wisconsin and the youngest son Matt lives in Manhattan, New York.