Edmund Ewoldt taught biology at Wheaton Community High School, which became Wheaton Central High School, for nearly 30 years. He also was the school’s wrestling coach and then spent a decade as its athletic director.
An encyclopedic knowledge of state high school wrestling and an indefatigable spirit led him to work local and state wrestling tournaments long after he retired. Ewoldt, who sported glasses and crew cuts, later served as the historian for the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association. His knowledge helped form the basis of a project aimed at giving state high school athletics officials a better picture of past tournament results.
“He was passionate about wrestling and passionate about people and passionate about taking care of people, and it showed,” said former Wheaton Central High School head wrestling coach John Fuller, who is now a Montana state representative. “Everybody knew it.”
Ewoldt, 97, died of natural causes on Sunday at the Brighton Gardens assisted living facility in Wheaton, said his son, Steve. He had been a longtime Wheaton resident.
Born Edmund Richard Ewoldt in 1928 in tiny Wall Lake, Iowa, Ewoldt graduated from Wall Lake High school in 1945 and enlisted in the Navy. He served in the Navy from 1945 until 1947, including on the USS Frank Knox from 1946 until 1947. He was discharged in mid-1947, and returned to Iowa. He eventually got a bachelor’s degree from the Iowa State Teachers College — now the University of Northern Iowa — in 1954.
From 1955 until 1958, Ewoldt taught high school in Maynard, Iowa. He moved to the Chicago area the following year, when he began teaching biology, ecology and life sciences at Wheaton Community High School, which was renamed Wheaton Central High School in 1964. Ewoldt’s reputation as a teacher was identical to the one he developed as a coach, Fuller said.
“What you saw was what you got, and you knew what to expect,” Fuller said. “He never pulled any surprises. He was straightforward and firm, fair, friendly and honest.”
At Wheaton Central, Ewoldt spent 14 years coaching wrestling, both as an assistant coach and then as a head coach. His teams won conference championships in 1963, 1965 and 1966, and his 1966 squad finished second in the state tournament.
At Wheaton Central, Ewoldt also coached football, soccer, baseball and softball, and he served as Wheaton Central’s athletic director from 1973 until 1983.
After retiring in 1988, Ewoldt stayed active, working unofficially as a wrestling coach at Wheaton Central and at its successor school, Wheaton Warrenville South High School, and also helping to run the state high school wrestling tournament, as well as college tournaments.
“He had incredible personal stamina and determination,” said former Wheaton Central and Wheaton Warrenville South High School Principal Charles Baker. “He retired, but he never left — that was the point. He was there all the time — he would keep the books for wrestling, he would show up for wrestling practice, he unofficially coached. He was everywhere, and there was no question that he was tough, he was determined and he was very much old-school.”
With now-retired Downers Grove South High School wrestling coach Larry Gassen and now-retired West Aurora High School wrestling coach George Dyche, Ewoldt worked at the state wrestling tournament for roughly four decades, Gassen said.
“He had a tremendous memory, and he kept track of all the wrestling results in the state of Illinois,” Gassen said. “He could tell you who the state champions were in which specific year.”
Dyche, who graduated from West Leyden High School in 1962, recalled wrestling against one of Ewoldt’s teams in the early 1960s but then later teaming up with him to try to unearth the results of nearly a century’s worth of Illinois state high school wrestling tournaments.
“The motivator for this project was Ed Ewoldt, and he kept the books as accurate as he possibly could,” Dyche said. “He was an excellent representative for the sport of wrestling, and he was instrumental in waking me up to the fact that we want to continue honoring the people who have come before us. He has been a hero of mine for a long period of time.”
Al Sears, a Wheaton Central graduate and four-time All-American wrestler at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, pointed to Ewoldt as an important, moderating influence on him. Sears went on to teach and coach wrestling in Belleville.
“He kept me in line, and he was a friend when we’re joking around, and he also was a coach — he did it all. He wore so many hats,” Sears said. “He was just good to be around. He helped me in every aspect of my life.”
Ewoldt served as chairman of the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association’s Hall of Fame, into which he was inducted in 1975. He also was inducted into the National Junior College Wrestling Hall of Fame in February 1992.
In 1999, Wheaton Warrenville South High School renamed its wrestling gym after Ewoldt. He was inducted into that school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011.
A former student, Ron Magruder, in 1992 endowed a $120,000, perpetual wrestling scholarship at Ewoldt’s alma mater, the University of Northern Iowa.
“I feel so great someone would think about doing this, particularly in the sport I love,” Ewoldt told the Tribune in 1992. “It’s just rewarding to think a student would do this. A lot of people pat you on the back and shake your hand, but you’re never sure if they mean it or not.”
Wheaton Warrenville South High School now hosts a wrestling tournament called the Ewoldt Invitational in his honor.
Ewoldt also was a longtime member of the board of Wheaton’s Center for History.
His wife of 46 years, Nancy, died in 2006. A daughter, Karen, died in 1992, and a son, Kurt, died in 2023. Ewoldt is survived by two other sons, Eric and Steve; five grandchildren; and three step-grandchildren.
A visitation will take place from 1 to 5 p.m. Dec. 28 at Hultgren Funeral Home, 304 N. Main St., Wheaton. A funeral service will take place at 10:30 a.m. Dec. 29 at Gary United Methodist Church, 224 N. Main St., Wheaton.
Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
