FARGO, N.D.
North Dakota State University will induct Greenbush’s Wayne Mooney into the Bison Athletic Hall of Fame this Friday, Sept. 20, at a luncheon during NDSU’s homecoming weekend. Mooney is part of the school’s 52nd annual class to be inducted.
Mooney was a three-time All-America wrestler for North Dakota State from 1996 to 2000. He won an NCAA Division II individual national championship his senior year at 157 pounds, and he was also part of NDSU’s national championship teams in 1998 and 2000.
After graduating from NDSU with a degree in recreation management, he worked as a recreation coordinator with the West Fargo Park District from 2000 to 2005 and director of parks and recreation in Brainerd, Minn., from 2005 to 2010. He returned home to Greenbush in 2010 and is currently employed as the director of service and support at Central Boiler Outdoor Wood Furnaces and Altoz Precision Mowers.
The other inductees are three-time national champion and NDSU’s all-time winningest head football coach Craig Bohl, men’s basketball career leading scorer Ben Woodside and career leading rebounder and second-leading scorer Brett Winkelman, All-America outfielder and NDSU baseball’s all-time leading hitter Matt Mann, three-time Academic All-America softball outfielder Sarah Schmitz, six-time All-American and two-time NCAA track and field throwing champion Diandra (Bauer) Gallagher, and the 1998 NCAA Division II national championship wrestling team.
Here are more details on Mooney’s wrestling career at NDSU: 2000 NCAA Division II national champion at 157 pounds... Three-time NCAA Division II All-American... Placed seventh in 1998 at 150 pounds and fourth in 1999 at 157 pounds... 2000 North Central Conference champion at 157 pounds... Finished his career with a four-year record of 96-30-0... Compiled a 26-4 record as a senior including 11-1 in duals with four pins on his way to winning the 2000 NCAA Division II and North Central Conference titles at 157 pounds... NCC runner-up at 157 in 1999, and was a fourtime conference placewinner overall... Member of the 1998 and 2000 NCAA Division II national championship teams for Hall of Fame coach Bucky Maughan.
Editor’s Note: I was excited to see this news in my inbox. Wayne and I were classmates, graduating from GMR in 1995. I reached out to him and he commented that he was “both surprised, and speechless” when he was contacted by current NDSU head wrestling coach Obe Blanc a few months ago to give him the news that he would be inducted into the NDSU Athletic Hall of Fame. Wayne continues, “It was really exciting news for me and the weekend will be fun for the whole family. It will be fun to tell old stories and show my kids the place where I wrestled over 24 years ago. I have lots of good memories from NDSU. I am really looking forward to seeing the guys I wrestled with from the1998 team. Wrestling is an individual sport but as a team we went through intense training and team building that brought us together to find a way to win. This weekend will be a great time to see old friends and talk about old memories.”
