Norm Manstedt
Norm Manstedt nmanstedt@clarks.net
After graduation for JFK in May of 1969 I started my coaching and teaching career at Clarks High School where I coached Football, Track and Jr. High Basketball and I started the High School Wrestling and Youth Wrestling program at Clarks, latter to be called the Manstedt Maulers Wrestling Club. I have taught Biology, Chemistry, Physics, General Science, Elementary, Junior High and High School Physical Education and Health over the past 50 years...
In December of 1971 I married Janet Strobel (from Clarks) and we had two sons; Eric & Mitchell. We also were foster parents for two girls (Janet & Diane) for eleven years. We bought a small farm near the Platte River and then purchased a house in Clarks where I currently live.
· Eric after high school attended Midland University in Fremont. Eric played football and threw the shot & discus in track at Midland and majored in education. He is married and lives in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina and has three daughters. He taught and coached for several years in Nebraska and North Carolina and Eric is now the plant manager for Flannigan Filters in Smithfield NC
· Mitchell after high school attended University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Mitch wrestled for the Huskers and received his degree in history. Mitch is married and has two children, a daughter and a son and lives in Lincoln. Mitch is responsible for all corporate ethanol accounts for U.S. Water Services based in Minneapolis
· In 1975 the Nebraska Scholastic Wrestling Coaches Association (NSWCA) was started and I was voted president in the 1979 (my 1st term of many to follow). Through the years I have been responsible for the NSWCA Hall of Fame Banquet, Senior All Star Dual and I am currently the CEO of the organization (this is a volunteer position, and no one seems to want the job). The organization has grown the last 10 years and we are the voice for high school wrestling in Nebraska. The NSWCA was the major force behind the establishment of the Nebraska State Duals Championships and we are currently writing a proposal to start Girls Wrestling in Nebraska, which we feel has a very good chance of becoming a reality next season.
In 1982 myself, and another wrestling coach developed the very first computer software program that would eliminate all of the handwritten paperwork involved with running tournaments. The program was a huge success and it was used at the Nebraska State Tournament and many other local, district and state meets for several years… until the Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet program was developed and it made our program obsolete… It was a great run while it lasted.
For the past 15 years I have owned and operated a lawn care company, Manstedt K Lawn. My customer base is around 65 customers for which I apply fertilize and herbicide four times a year, since I am the only employee, I get plenty of exercise.
Fourteen years ago, I was voted on to the Clarks Village Board and the last 2 years I am the Board Chairman, which has plenty of challenges to face with an aging infrastructure and limited yearly funding. We are making progress, but change is always hard, especially in a small rural community.
This past year 2018-2019 was my 50th year of coaching and teaching in the Clarks / High Plains Community School district (in 2000 Clarks consolidated w/Polk Hordville and we became High Plains). I have been blessed to work in the same school district my entire career. We have been very successful, and the town of Clarks is known as a “wrestling community”.
Over the years I have received many awards for my coaching success:
· 1986 Inducted into the NSWCA Hall of Fame
· 2002, 2011, 2017 Finalist for National Wrestling Coach of the Year
· 2017 Inducted into the High Plains Community Hall of Fame
· Nebraska Coaches Association – 2020 & 2019 Wrestling Coach of the Year, 2019 Level 4 Achievement Award and 2019 50 Year Service Award
· National Wrestling Coaches Association – 50 year Service Award, 2019 Section 5 National Coach of the Year
· Cornhusker State Games – Honorary Parade Marshall
· 2018 Merrick County Person of the Year
· In January of 2019 the re-naming of the Clarks / High Plains Wrestling Tournament as the “Norm Manstedt Invitational Wrestling Tournament”
· I am now officially retired from coaching and teaching and the transition has been pretty good so far, however wrestling season hasn’t started yet. To be in the coaching profession for 50 years and to be able to work with great student athletes that believe in what you are trying to teach them is truly a blessing… and the success that coaching has brought to me and our communities is something that I never dreamed would happen and will never forget.