[Kutztown Press Release] KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY'S DAN HINKEL HONORED BY NATIONAL, STATE WRESTLING ASSOCIATIONS

[Leiboff, Joshua]

March 19, 2008

KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY'S DAN HINKEL HONORED BY NATIONAL, STATE WRESTLING ASSOCIATIONS

KUTZTOWN, Pa. - Former Kutztown University wrestling head coach and current assistant coach Dan Hinkel has been recognized for a lifetime of service to the sport of wrestling.

            Hinkel will be awarded an honorary lifetime membership in the National Wrestling Coaches Association in conjunction with this week's NCAA Division I Championships in St. Louis, Mo.  In May, Hinkel will receive a Lifetime Service to Wrestling Award by the Pa. Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

            He is one of four to receive the NWCA's lifetime memberships at Wednesday's ceremony in St. Louis.  On May 18, Hinkel will be one of eight to receive the wrestling hall of fame's service award at the Bent Creek Country Club in Lititz.  That award is given to individuals who have given "countless hours of their time instilling in young people the skills needed to succeed in all areas of life."

            Hinkel has been involved with the Kutztown University wrestling program since the 1960s.  He served as KU's head coach for two stints - 1965-1972 and 1989-1996 - had a career record of 124-83-6. He was 45-43-4 in his first campaign and found great success in his second round of coaching, going 79-40-2 with top five finishes at the NCAA Division II Regionals in five consecutive seasons, from 1992 to 1996.

            In his final year as head coach in 1996, he led the Golden Bears to their best finish at regionals in the program's history. KU went 11-2 during the season and finished second at regionals.

            In between and since his head coaching stints, Hinkel has served as assistant coach for five other head coaches, including current head coach Robert Fisher.

            In 2003, Hinkel was inducted into KU's Hall of Fame. He also is a member of Lock Haven University and the PSAC Wrestling Hall of Fame.



--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Josh Leiboff
Kutztown University Sports Information
Phone: (610) 683-4182
Fax: (610) 683-4676
Email: leiboff at kutztown.edu
Website: http://www.kubears.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.kutztown.edu/pipermail/press-release/attachments/20080319/00000171/attachment.html