Lifetime Service Born in Medford, Oklahoma where he won the 148 lbs. State Championship for Stillwater High School, Al Hurley came to Winnetka's New Trier High School in the fall of 1948. Following high school Al first attended Oklahoma A & M, then Iowa University and finally back to A & M. While at A & M he lettered in football (an injury prevented him from wrestling); while at Iowa, Al was on the swim team. In 1936 he received his undergraduate degree from Oklahoma A & M; two years later he earned his Masters degree from Iowa. After a stint in the military, Al Hurley taught for eight years at Central High School in Omaha, Nebraska. While at Central he coached football, basketball and track with a little YMCA swimming on the side "” truly a man for all seasons. Although Al coached football as well as wrestling while at New Trier, it was wrestling that appeared to be Al's sport. In every year but two of Hurley's fourteen-season tenure his teams placed ninth or better in the IHSA State Tournament. New Trier took trophies home six of Hurley's fourteen campaigns placing first three times (1950, '51 and '53); 2nd twice ('49, '55); and 3rd Place once (1952). Hurley's Indians (Trevians would come much later) would have garnered an additional trophy with their 4th Place finish in 1963, but the IHSA Terms and Conditions "” during this era "” called for awarding trophies only to the top three teams. Of the twenty-two State Champions from New Trier over the years, Al Hurley is responsible for coaching seventeen of them. Thirteen additional Hurley-coached wrestlers were silver medalists. Notable state place winners he coached, to mention a few, are Olympic wrestler Don Behm; former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld; and former Chicago Bear great Mike Pyle. Overall, Coach Al Hurley's program produced forty-eight State medalists. I suspect several of them are dining with us tonight. But as indicated earlier, Al Hurley was a man for all seasons. He took up officiating wrestling and became accomplished enough to work several Big Ten and NCAA Championships. He put pen to paper in an effort to promote the sport, writing for the Illinois Interscholastic touting the benefits of high school wrestling. Befitting Hurley's stature in the wrestling community, Bill "Red" Schmitt "” writing for the very first edition of Scholastic Wrestling News in the '60s"” praised the "excellent Illinois coaches" of Waukegan's Ott Bay, Thornton's Ted Czech, Reavis' John Fitzgerald and "” New Trier's Al Hurley. In recognition of all of his contributions the IWCOA inducted Al Hurley into its Hall of Fame in 1973.