Gary Weber (1982) (pictured above courtesy Bryon Houlgrave/The Globe Gazette) will be inducted into the Upper Iowa University Athletics Hall of Fame this Friday night as a coach. The 1981 NCAA Division III Championships qualifier was a four-year letter winner with the Peacock wrestling program and served as a captain with the team.
Weber captured 446 wrestling dual victories over 34 years of coaching at the high school level including his first six at Plainfield High School and twenty-eight at Clear Lake High School. He taught at Plainfield and Clear Lake for 34 years as well. Weber is the winningest high school wrestling coach among UIU graduates in dual records and is seventh in Iowa High School history. He has coached numerous state champions and place winners in the IHSAA State Tournament. Weber had the privilege of coaching both of his sons in the IHSAA state finals. Under Weber's direction, along with longtime assistant coach Bob Kopriva and numerous other outstanding assistants, Clear Lake made 12 IHSAA State Dual appearances and placed eight times including second place three time, third place twice, fourth place once and seventh place twice.
Weber was inducted into the Iowa National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2017.
Weber graduated from Upper Iowa with a Bachelor's degree in business administration and health, physical education and recreation. He and his wife, Cindy, have five children, Nick, Whitney, Tucker, Paige and Peyton.
Upper Iowa will induct three new members to the Athletics Hall of Fame (HOF) as part of the Hall of Fame Weekend festivities on September 14-15. The 2018 inductees include two extremely successful coaches and Upper Iowa's first individual National Champion at the NCAA Division II level.
The UIU Hall of Fame Banquet is set for Friday, Sept. 14 beginning with a social hour at 5:30 p.m. in the Student Center Ballrooms, with the dinner program to follow. On Saturday, Sept. 15 the honorees, along with other members of the HOF, will be recognized during halftime of the Peacock football game versus Winona State University.
Registration for the Hall of Fame Weekend, including the RSVP for the Hall of Fame Banquet, can be found by clicking here.
In addition to Weber, the UIU Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2018 is as follows:
- Stu Engen (Coach) Led the Peacock men's basketball program to Iowa Conference titles in 1994, 1996 and 1999
- Ryan Phillips '07, '11 (Athlete) UIU's first NCAA Division II Wrestling Champion at 197 pounds in 2007
Upper Iowa is hosting a free concert featuring Eric Chesser in the Peacock Tailgate Area north of Harms-Eischeid Stadium at 3:30 on Saturday prior to the Hall of Fame football game. The game is set to kickoff at 6:05 p.m.
The UIU Athletics Hall of Fame can be found by clicking here.
