There is probably no coach with as much of a connection to a school as former head wrestling coach Mark Hahn and Glenbard North High School.  It was, after all, his father’s land that the school was built on—a land he worked on growing up as the son of a dairy farmer, and a land he worked on well after as arguably one of the greatest high school coaches in the history of Illinois athletics.

As much discipline and work ethic that was instilled in Hahn by his father, it was his mother who gave him his start in wrestling.  As an employee at North, she knew the head wrestling coach, Bob Fulk, and, according to Hahn, “Bob knew everyone.  And once he learned about our family and that we were farmers, and that my mom had a son, he told her about the youth club he had started and to sign me up--that is where it all started for me.”

Hahn’s introduction to Glenbard North wrestling would begin in that club--it would also be the first time he would meet then head coach, Bob Fulk.  Fulk, who ran the youth club, made sure to leave an impression on the boys in front of him.  However, it may not have been very clear to Fulk how strong of an impression he would make on a boy who would ultimately take over the program that he started from scratch.

“When I first walked into the wrestling room at North, when I was in that youth club,” Hahn said, “and I heard about the program through the words and images of Fulk, it was bigger than life.  It was something special, and I wanted to be part of it.”

Even though wrestling did not come easy to Hahn, he did enjoy what made the sport difficult, and that is what drew him into it more.  Early on, he struggled with understanding the moves and techniques, but remembered that he enjoyed the work that went along with the process of learning.  By the time he was a freshman at North, the lure to the program was Fulk.  “He really made that program special, and I wanted to be part of it.”

For the next four years, Hahn would grow as a wrestler and, by his senior season, he had gained a great appreciation for his head coach.  “The thing about Bob,” Hahn commented, “was that he had the same expectation for everyone when it came to work ethic and commitment.  I was no stud and, well, Bob didn’t exactly throw compliments around very often--you had to earn them.  And I wanted to earn them.  I wanted to do well for him.”

By the time Hahn had graduated, he believed that he had developed an overall toughness from his time in the program.  A toughness that would carry him through football at the College of DuPage and at Illinois Benedictine College.  However, while Hahn commuted back and forth, because he still had his chores on the farm, he and Fulk would stay in touch and, since Fulk lived right down the street, a friendship was forming.

By the time Hahn graduated from college and began to substitute teach at North waiting for a teaching opening, it was 1983 and Fulk had already built a consistent year-in-and-year-out powerhouse at North.  What Hahn began to learn being on the other side of the whistle was the emphasis on team and how difficult it was to stay on top.  Likewise, Hahn was having to play catch-up on technique.

“I had only wrestled for four years,” Hahn explained, “and I didn’t know what I didn’t know, so I needed to learn.”  From there, Hahn made it his mission to study techniques, learn what he could learn, play to his strengths, and appreciate what others had to offer as he learned just as easily from watching them.

In 1984, the first year of the IHSA Dual Team Championships--Hahn’s second year on staff--the program would earn a runner-up finish.  Four years later, after he had already secured a full-time teaching position, Fulk turned the program over to Hahn.  

“As soon as I accepted the position,” Hahn said of taking over the program, “my first thought was not to [mess] this thing up.  I wanted to continue what Bob had started and to make sure Glenbard North was always relevant.” 

In Hahn’s first season, he had several his junior varsity wrestlers coming in as seniors, and, to him, having coached those guys already made all the difference in that season’s success.    

“What made that year so successful,” Hahn remembered, “was that I was still a young guy and I had already established great relationships with the kids and had fun with them in the room.  So, I had their respect coming in and those relationships with those guys made it work.”

In 1988, Hahn’s team would win the DuPage Valley Conference championship, the Regional Championship, the Dual Team Sectional Championship, and place fourth at the IHSA Dual Team State Championships.  

When the season ended, Hahn thought, This is easy.  We’ve got this figured out.  There’s no reason we shouldn’t be in a medal match every year.

It would be another ten years of chasing conference foe Naperville North, the team Hahn’s 1988 team had to defeat at the Dual Team Sectional Championships to get downstate, before Hahn would lead another team downstate.

“Each year,” Hahn commented, “we were trying to make the program better and doing everything we could to find an edge for our guys.  But we were missing something.”

What Hahn was missing was found in a conversation with one of his former assistants and head girls’ track and field coach who had developed a powerhouse program of his own.  “We had a system,” Hahn explained, “but we had to change our training up in order to peak at the right time.  Once we did that, we were now building up our entire team better and with a more regimented training philosophy.”

The Panthers would not win a dual down state in 1998, but by the time 2001 came along, the string of Glenbard North appearances down state, with individuals and teams, had the image of it all just being automatic.

From 2001 to 2018, Glenbard North would earn sixteen state appearances, bring home thirteen trophies, and a lifetime of memories with his wrestlers, his coaching staff, and his family.  Both of Hahn’s daughters were stat girls for the program, his wife was very heavily involved in the time Hahn was away from home, but also all the heartache and heavy decisions and conversations and outer aspects that he brought home with him.

“There are some great stories to tell,” Hahn smiled, “and there are some we wish we had back.  But having my daughters there was very special, and there is no way I would have been able to do what I wanted without the sacrifices from my wife and family--none of this would have happened without their support and I will always be grateful to them for that.”

As for the program, “Forty years ago,” Hahn pridefully explained, “we were in the mix every year and always in the conversation as one of the top teams in Illinois.  The same was true thirty years ago, twenty years ago, ten years ago, and even now.  That’s the program, and that has been the program now for over fifty years, and that consistency of being relevant is something I am proud of because that is not easy.”

But Hahn also knows the success of any program comes at the hands of many, not one.  “The success of this program started with Bob and his staff,” Hahn explained.  “And it has always been the hard work of a lot of people.  I was fortunate to have an amazing coaching staff, and the wrestlers and the families and community always bought in, and sacrifices were made by everyone.  Fifty years ago, it was a group effort, and the same is true today.  The program has always been the centerpiece and that is why we have endured.  I always tell our kids you're not just wrestling for yourselves; you're wrestling for the whole history of Glenbard North.”

Hahn’s final season as the head coach came in 2020.  But his legacy will always echo when people speak about Illinois wrestling, particularly Glenbard North Wrestling.  He embodied the attributes of the program and he, like Fulk, became larger than life to his wrestlers--they wanted to wrestle hard for him and not let him down every time they stepped on the mat donning the black and gold.

His career had never been about the medals and the trophies and the accolades and the inductions--though his career is filled with them--it had always been about the growth and development of young men and providing from them a foundation for life where they could become good men, have great careers, and become wonderful fathers and husbands.

But his career has numbers--and the numbers are simply staggering.  

Individually, he coached 151 conference champions, 173 regional champions, 59 sectional champions, 161 state qualifiers, 78 state medalists, 12 state runner-ups, and 23 state champions.  

In team accolades, Hahn compiled a Dual Meet Record of 716 - 153 - 02 (.824%), and a combined DuPage Valley and Dukane Conference Dual Meet Record of 220 - 13 - 01 (.944%).  He led the Panthers to 24 conference championships--with eighteen of them coming consecutively.  He claimed 26 Regional championships, 16 Dual Team Sectional championships, and brought home 12 team trophies--including the 2011 IHSA Dual Team State Championship.  

Hahn was the 2001 2A IHSA Coach of the Year, a feat he replicated in 2011, this time in 3A.  He was inducted into the I.W.C.O.A. Hall of Fame in 2006.  In 2017, he was inducted into the inaugural “The Clash” High School National Duals Hall of Fame and, this year, he will also be inducted into the Glenbard North Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Regarding his impact on Glenbard North Wrestling, Hahn said, “When I started this, I wanted Bob to be proud of the program. He has told me that he is proud of what we have accomplished. Overall, I think we did great. There are things we did well, there are things we could have done better, things I’d like to do over, but I think we did more good than bad, and I think we left our mark on the sport.”