For 28 years, the Columbus wrestling program was feared throughout the state. From five consecutive state titles to a 404-88-1 dual record across those years, the Wildcats’ success would not have been possible without the leadership of their now-Hall of Fame coach Bill Plein.
Plein has been around wrestling for most of his life. A native of Waukon, Plein wrestled up through high school and continued his career at Central College in Pella, where he holds the record for most points scored in a tournament with 23.
After college, he couldn’t stay away from the wrestling scene, so he took an assistant coaching job at Wapello under fellow Hall-of-Famer Willard Howell. He spent a couple years learning from Howell before taking over at Columbus Community for the 1989-90 school year, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Plein saw all kinds of success from his wrestlers in his tenure at Columbus. In his 28 years, he coached 10 individual state champions, 50 place-finishers, two state tournament title teams and three teams to state dual team championships. On top of all that, he is one of just 13 coaches in state history to record 400 or more career dual wins; more than worthy of enshrinement into the Iowa High School Athletic Association’s Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Plein’s Hall of Fame induction came as a surprise to him. As successful as he has been over the years, he takes almost none of the credit.
“I’m really surprised about it; terribly honored, but something like this, when it happens, it’s the culmination of a lot of different people who have helped me get some success,” Plein said. “You can’t forget people that helped you along the way.”
After a Hall of Fame career at Columbus, Plein decided to retire from coaching. But that didn’t last long. West Burlington, who was in conjunction with Danville and Burlington Notre Dame, decided to discontinue the wrestling program, so Notre Dame took it over. Every new program needs a new coach, and they came knocking at Plein’s door. He says building a program from the ground up has been an interesting challenge, but a fun experience.
“They’re great kids; willing to put in a lot of time. They’ve worked really hard. It’s been a lot of fun; really enjoyable.”
Plein says he only plans to stick around at Notre Dame long enough for the program to get on its feet before he hangs in the towel for good. Part of the journey is the end, and looking back, Plein has been more that satisfied with the journey so far and the help he’s received along the way. As for the Hall of Fame, he says, especially given some of the other coaches that have dominated in Southeast Iowa over the years, he is overwhelmingly honored.
“There are some awful great coaches in the state. Heck, even in Southeast Iowa there’s some great coaches,” Plein said.
“I think about Coach [Ryan] Smith at Fort Madison, Coach [Mark] Chirri at New London, Tom Mashek at L&M. And there’s others, I’m sure. So I think about them, and those guys are well-deserving of this honor just as much as I am. I’m awful, awful honored, and I just feel blessed to have worked with so many wonderful people.”
Plein and the rest of the Hall of Fame Class of 2019 will be honored at the State Wrestling Championships on Feb. 16 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.