Former Douglas County High School (DCHS) coach Duane Knox had a formula for making sure wrestling, one of the most demanding individual sports, also maintained a "team" atmosphere. "In wrestling, winning and losing is so personal," Knox said. "The way I worked it was, that as a team, if we won, everybody won. We always tried to keep the team aspect involved. That was important." Knox's formula was clearly successful in his 15 years as head coach at DCHS. During his tenure, the Huskies produced 28 state placers, 10 state champions; finished nine times in the top-10 team standings at the state championships, seven district championships and a 137-22 dual meet record. "I had a bunch of great young men," Knox said. "I still associate with a number of them. They grew up to be successful people in all kinds of jobs. To me, it was a great opportunity to have the chance to coach them all those years." Knox attended Trinidad Junior College (TJC) and Colorado State University on football scholarships, but did wrestle one year at TJC. He started his teaching and coaching career at DCHS as an assistant in both sports. When he was offered the chance to be the head coach of one, he chose wrestling. "Douglas County at that time was a farm-ranch community," Knox said. "Those ranch boys were all tough kids. They weren't necessarily big kids, but they were tough. In that community I just thought I could do better in wrestling." Because his background in the sport was not lengthy, he had to develop his coaching technique on the fly. "I think that actually might have been an advantage," Knox said. "I wasn't locked in on any particular style. You have all these kids with different body types and they can't do the same thing, so you have to come up with techniques and maneuvers to fit that body type." Knox's teams became a state powerhouse. DCHS finished second in the state meet in 1970, and also notched a third-place finish, two fourths and two fifths. He coached six teams that boasted unbeaten records in dual meets. Knox also worked tirelessly to build support for his program and the sport. He worked with youth programs, initiated a parents group that conducted an annual team awards banquet, and developed a rapport with the local media to generate publicity for the Huskies. He never considered the possibility of being inducted into the Hall of Fame. "It's a great honor and I appreciate it," Knox said. "I didn't go into wrestling to receive an honor, but I did want to help kids and have some success. Wrestling has been good to me. I enjoyed coaching it and it was a great sport to coach."