Upper Iowa University Athletics Hall of Fame
Dick Arndt, class of 1958, is being inducted into the Upper Iowa University Athletic Hall of Fame in the coaching category. A four-sport athlete at UIU, Arndt played on the 1952-53 football, basketball, baseball and track teams. His athletic career was cut short by a severe knee injury in 1953, so Arndt turned his passion for athletics toward coaching.
Following graduation from Upper Iowa, with a bachelor’s degree in biology, Arndt worked as a research technician and lab instructor in entomology at the University of California, Riverside. A native of Evanston, Ill., he returned to the Midwest in 1962 as a science teacher and coach at Oelwein High School. He retired from teaching in 1994 but continues to coach cross country and track. A number of his athletes have qualified and placed at the state track meet. He also coached junior high football for 15 years, and girls varsity basketball, softball and varsity boys and girls cross country for ten years.
He was named State District Coach of the Year in 1992, District Coach of the Year in 1970-84-88-89-90-92 and Iowa High School All-Star Game Coach in 1980, and he was inducted into the Iowa High School Track Coaches Hall of Fame.
He and his wife, Jan, live on a farm near Oelwein. They are the parents of five children: Debra, Julie, Lori, Kerry and Ted.
