Larry Goodnature began his wrestling career in Albert Lea from 1967 to 1971 under Hall of Fame Wrestling Coach Paul Ehrhard. In addition to wrestling, Larry participated in Football, Cross Country and Track. In Track Larry set a school record in the Pole Vault at 13 feet, 3 inches. That record stood for some 20 years. In wrestling, Goodnature was a Minnesota State Champion at 145 lbs in the old "one class" system. Assistant Coach Neal Skaar says, "I think a month before the end of his senior year in 1971, he got a lot of confidence and more assertive," Skaar said, "He beat the defending State Champion in the finals of the Regional Tournament, Mark Lange of Caledonia, then beat him again in the finals of the State Tournament. He had been building confidence his senior year, but that last month was something." With Goodnature and other top performers the Albert Lea High School Tigers won the Minnesota State Team Title in 1971. They sent an impressive 5 wrestlers to State that year. Along with Goodnature's title, teammate Tom Jean also captured a State Title at 167 lbs, with a Runner-up finish from Rick Rieman at 112 lbs. Mike Jean placed 4th at 154 lbs. Steve Tuveson qualified at 95 lbs. Goodnature's Coach Paul Ehrhard called "Goody" the most technically sound wrestler he'd ever coached, and that's impressive from a coach who coached so many outstanding wrestlers over his career at Albert Lea. Larry went on to wrestle at Mankato State University from 1971 to 1976 where he was a 3-time All-American, finishing 4th in the NCAA II National tournament at 158 lbs in 1973; Larry finished 6th in 1974 at 158 lbs and 5th at 158 lbs in 1976. Goodnature wrestled under another legendary Hall of Fame coach in Rummy Macias. After graduating in 1976 with a Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Technology and Physical Education. He accepted his first teaching/ coaching position at Hutchinson High School where he coached for 3 years, from 1976 to 1979, returning to Albert Lea and serving as an Assistant Coach to Neal Skaar. He took over the Head Coaching position in 1992. Goodnature said, " I always wanted to get back to Albert Lea, I've always been a part of winning programs and Albert Lea had that history." Goodnature says, "I was very fortunate to learn from legendary (Albert Lea coaches) like Paul Ehrhard, Neal Skaar and Rummy Macias (Mankato State)." Goodnature has been a wrestling coach for 42 years, 39 of those years at Albert Lea with 25 of those years serving as Head Coach. Larry's Hutchinson High School teams won 3 Suburban West Conference Titles and at Albert Lea his teams captured 10 Big Nine Conference Titles. His Albert Lea teams have reached the State 7 times and the State Finals 4 times. He coached 142 state qualifiers with 71 as state placewinners. 8 of those were State Champions. For Coach Goodnature's success as a coach he has been honored as Big Nine "Coach of the Year" 10 times, Section "Coach of the Year" 14 times and Minnesota Class AAA "Coach of the Year" 3 times in 2006, 2009 and 2015. He has accumulated an overall career coaching record of 546-166, which ranks him 11th All-Time among Minnesota Wrestling Coaches. Another very important part of Goodnature's coaching career that he is most proud of is that his teams won 8 State Class AAA Minnesota Academic State Championships. "We stressed academics first, then the sport of wrestling. Goodnature states: "If a student is disciplined in the classroom, they are going to be disciplined on the mat." Coach Larry Goodnature always put together a great coaching staff, from top to bottom, and many of those coaches in the Junior High and Elementary were Albert Lea grads. Larry says, "If you have good coaches in the junior high and elementary levels you will have success at the High School level. For a better part of Goodnature's career at Albert Lea he had Jon Hansen, Bryan "Books" Paul, and Jack Kortan running the elementary and junior high programs. Goodnature's high school staff had outstanding Albert Lea grads, "who lived and breathed Albert Lea Wrestling" helping him out in Neal Skaar, David Frame, Alex Skaar, Mark Inderlie, Brian Goodnature, Nate Goodnature, Brandon Klukow, Ryan Palmer, Mike Hansen, Josh Bain and Jon Lund."He (Goodnature) had great organizational skills, things I didn't have," Skaar said. "He had a better ability to get people to work than I did. He was really great at building the boosters program and building on to the wrestling program. He was able to get so many good people involved," says Skaar. "He had great organizational skills and he was always a very likeable guy and he had a lot of knowledge of wrestling," says Skaar. "He was the kind of guy you wanted around." Outside of wrestling, Larry enjoys fishing and hunting. Now that he is retired he is able to take trips, such as to Canada two to three times a summer with friends and his wife and kids. He has traveled 3 times to Alaska with his wife Mary and friends Jack and Mona Eustice (Jack was a college teammate) to visit their friends Kurt and Marlene Kuehl (Kurt was another college teammate) on fishing trips to Ketchiken, Alaska and to a cabin on Prince of Whales Island. Larry also goes hunting for ducks, deer and pheasants, taking two trips a year to South Dakota. Other trips include motocycle trips, with wife Mary, out West to Utah, Montana, Colorado, Idaho, British Columbia and an annual trip to Mexico. Larry and Mary have been married 45 years and raised 3 boys in Brian, Jake and Nate. All three boys were 3-sport athletes, with wrestling being their #1 sport. The Goodnature's have 2 grandchildren with one on the way. Congratulations to Coach Larry Goodnature on a much derserved honor and recognition of his outstanding wrestling career.