Wrestling Hall of Fame

Bob Easter carved out two highly successful coaching careers at Richwoods high school.

As the football team's line coach for 29 years, he was instrumental in helping make the Knights a perennial winner. And in 25 years as Richwoods' wrestling coach he produced a quality program that won eight conferencechampionships.

A standout lineman at the University of Illinois who played on the Illini's 1963 team that whipped Washington in the 1964 Rose Bowl, Easter coached one year in Rockford before joining the Richwoods staff in 1967.

While he was tutoring the Richwoods' line, the Knights won two state championships, had one second place finish, appeared in the state playoffs 15 times and won 11 conference championships.

His 1971 wrestling team finished seventh in the state.

Individually he coached 46 conference champions, 73 district champs, 51 sectional qualifiers, 16 who placed at state and three state champions.

In all, his wrestlers won 171 individual tournament titles, 28 of them won 30 or more matches in a season and 75 won 20 or more in a season.