DON WAS BORN AND RAISED IN FOND DU LAC, HE GRADUATED FROM GOODRICH HIGH SCHOOL IN 1959. DON AND HIS WIFE HELEN RAISED FOUR CHILDREN (MARK, BRIAN, MICHELLE, AND DARRIN) WHO ALL GRADUATED FROM GOODRICH.
·DON WAS A STANDOUT ATHLETE IN HIGH SCHOOL PLAYING BASKETBALL FOR FONDY HIGH AS WELL AT ST. PATRICK’S CYO. HE ALSO PLAYED BASEBALL FOR THE CARDINALS (3 YEARS) STARTING IN CENTERFIELD HIS JUNIOR AND SENIOR YEAR. DON WAS ON THE STATE RUNNER-UP TEAM IN 1959. HE WAS ALSO A PART OF THE 1958 FOND DU LAC LEGION STATE CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM.
·AFTER HIGH SCHOOL DON SERVED IN THE U.S. ARMY AND WORKED AT GIDDINGS & LEWIS FOR 43 YEARS.
·DON WAS AN AVID SOFTBALL PLAYER IN FONDY, PLAYING WELL INTO HIS LATE 50’S. HE COACHED MANY OF THE GIDDINGS & LEWIS SOFTBALL TEAMS INCLUDING THE 1969 STATE INDUSTRIAL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM.
·DON WAS ONE OF THE FOUNDING FATHER’S OF THE FOND DU LAC WRESTLING CLUB IN THE LATE 1970’S. HE ALSO STARTED A “MIGHTY MITES” YOUTH WRESTLING PROGRAM WHICH HE COACHED AND RAN FOR 20 YEARS. DON ALSO STARTED THE MC DONALDS YOUTH WRESTLING TOURNAMENT IN FOND DU LAC, THIS TOURNAMENT GREW INTO ONE OF THE LARGEST YOUTH WRESTLING TOURNAMENTS IN THE STATE. DON WAS ALSO PART OF MANY CULTURAL EXCHANGE WRESTLING EVENTS WITH LARRY MARCHIONDA, INCLUDING A TRIP TO JAPAN.
·DON’S THREE BOYS ALL WRESTLED FOR LARRY MARCHIONDA AT GOODRICH HIGH SCHOOL AND HOLD THE RECORD FOR MOST CAREER WINS BY A FAMILY IN FOND DU LAC WRESTLING HISTORY.
