Saturday, February 6, 2016

10 AM - McPhee Center

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***Concessions will be available throughout the tournament***

About the Don Parker Open
Established in 1979, the Don Parker Open - formerly the Blugold Open - is one of the oldest wrestling tournaments in the NCAA. The tournament was renamed in 2015 to recognize and honor long-time Blugold head coach, Don Parker who led the the Blugolds for 32 years. Parker was a two-time NCAA Division II national champion at 177 pounds, winning the 1966 and '67 titles at Northern Iowa. He earned All-America honors three times and posted a career record of 65-16-3. 

Parker began his coaching career in 1973 as the head coach at Upper Iowa before taking over at UW-Eau Claire in 1977. Parker took over a program that only had six wrestlers before turning it into a program that produced one national champion, 13 All-Americans and 15 conference champions before he retired in 2009. Under Parker, the Blugolds had their best finishes in program history in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) taking third place in 2001 and 2003. 

In addition, Parker was named WIAC Coach of ther Year in 2000 and has been inducted into numerous Hall of Fames. He was inducted into the NCAA Division III Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2000, the Glen Brand Wrestling Hall of Fame of Iowa in 2007 and in 2014, inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and awarded the Medal of Courage. 

An accident in 1998 causing a severe spinal cord injury left Parker confined to a wheelchair but he continued to coach as well as teach in the UWEC kinesiology department until his retirement. Along with his committment to Blugold wrestling, Parker was also an assistant coach for the Blugold football team from 1977-1988.