Mark Mestemacher

Class of 2011

Edwardsville

Born in 1957 in Granite City, Mark Mestemacher graduated from Collinsville High School in 1975. He wrestled for four years and was selected team captain his senior year. He then attended the University of Illinois and graduated with a degree in Agriculture Economics in 1979.

Mark has been the head coach working with Mark Freitag of the Edwardsville Wrestling Club for the past twelve years. During this time Edwardsville has produced 3 State Champions, 32 state place-winners and 121 state qualifiers. Over the last five years, Edwardsville Wrestling Club has won the IKWF South Sectional three times, placed 2nd once a finished 5th the other year. Edwardsville Wrestling Club has competed in the IKWF Team Dual State Tournament representing the South Sectional nine out of the past twelve years. EWC finished 8th in 2004 and 7th in 2003. Edwardsville Wrestling Club had its first National Champion in 2005 and has had 5 All-Americans since 2000. Edwardsville has been one of the largest kids wrestling clubs in the state of Illinois over the last five years, averaging 100 wrestlers per year over that time period.

Mark has served as the IKWF South Section Alternate Director for the past eleven years and has also been the Illinois Team Leader for the Schoolboy (13-14 years old) National Dual Team Tournament for the last four years. Illinois has placed in the top 8 each year.

Mark has also been involved in starting a regional training site in Southern Illinois for Freestyle/Greco wrestling. The site is just concluding their third year and provides an opportunity for wrestlers from age 5 through 18 to learn and develop skills in international wrestling. He has also been involved in establishing the ISEMAN Club (Illinois Southern Elite), which practices at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. During the three years of existence, the club has grown from 40 wrestlers to over 100 this past year.

In addition, Mark has been an active member of the Edwardsville Wrestling Booster Club for the past 12 years. This club is made up of parents from all levels of wrestling in Edwardsville. This club has gone from raising $2000 to $4000 per year during the first 5 years to raising over $20,000 per year for the past four years. All the money raised by this club goes back to funding the Edwardsville Wrestling Club, Liberty and Lincoln Middle Schools and Edwardsville High School.

In 2006, the National Wrestling Coaches Association honored Mark as the Dan Gable, America Needs Wrestling award winner. Also during that year he was honored by the IWCOA as a Gold Level Special Recognition recipient. The Edwardsville Chamber of Commerce selected Mark as their Person of the Year in 2009. He served as a Grand Marshal at the IKWF State Tournament in 2006 and in 2008 he received the Meritorious Service Award from the National Wrestling Coaches Association.

Mark serves on the Board of Directors of the Metro East Fellowship of Christian Athletes/Wrestling and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Jackie Joyner Kersee Foundation. He is also a Leadership Academy Mentor for the National Wrestling Coaches Association. Mark serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Edwardsville Wrestling Club and the East St. Louis Wrestling Club. His hobbies are helping to start middle school, kids club or high school wrestling programs in the St. Louis Metro East area.

Mark is the owner of Cere’s Consulting, LLC Barge Transportation Co. He has been married to Carol for twenty-two years. They have two children, Amanda, a junior at Purdue University and Adam, a senior at Edwardsville High School.