Editor’s note: Information used for the biographies below was provided by the Albert Lea High School Athletic Hall of Fame committee.

The 2011 Albert Lea High School Athletic Hall of Fame class includes:

Paul Ehrhard

Paul Ehrhard was head coach of the Albert Lea wrestling program from 1957 to 1977.

Ehrhard graduated from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul and had only two years of coaching experience prior to arriving in Albert Lea. In his first year, in addition to coaching wrestling, Ehrhard was an assistant football coach.

While at the helm of the Albert Lea wrestling program, Ehrhard coached 15 state champions, 45 state place winners and 75 state qualifiers. He lead the team to three state championships, 10 Big Nine Conference championships, 10 Region 1 championships and 17 District 2 championships.

Ehrhard compiled a 234-23-6 career coaching record with the wrestling team and won 89 percent of his matches.

In 1972, Ehrhard was named Minnesota Wrestling Coach of the Year, and his state record for win-loss percentage stood for more than 30 years.

Ehrhard is a member of the Minnesota Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame, Southern Minnesota Wrestling Coaches, Officials and Wrestlers Hall of Fame and the National Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame.

Ehrhard currently lives with his wife, Kathy, in Hastings.

Traci Bergo

Traci Bergo was a 1982 graduate of Albert Lea High School who broke many school and Big Nine Conference girls’ swimming records.

As a ninth-grader, Bergo broke seven school records

during the first five meets of her high school career.

As a sophomore, Bergo was the first girls’ swimming state qualifier from Albert Lea High School, was conference champion in the 200-yard individual medley, named Team MVP and Big Nine All-Conference.

As a junior, Bergo was again named All-Conference and broke the school-record in the 100-yard backstroke.

During her senior year, Bergo broke four school records was Big Nine champion in the 200-yard individual medley relay in a record-breaking effort. Bergo was section champion in the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard backstroke and finished seventh and tenth, respectively, at state.

Bergo was also a two-year letterwinner in girls’ basketball and softball.

Bergo attended the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire where she was a four-time NAIA All-American. She was national champion in the 800-yard free relay and broke eight school records. In 1992, she was inducted into the university’s Hall of Fame.

Bergo went on to coach swimming at Edina High School and was voted Minnesota State High School League Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2000.

Bergo currently lives in Plymouth.

Pete Veldman

Pete Veldman was a three-sport athlete at Albert Lea High School and graduated in 1951.

On the track and field team, Veldman was a three-time letterwinner and competed in the high hurdles, 440-yard dash, shot put and discus throw. He qualified for the state meet in the high hurdles in 1951.

Veldman was a two-year letterwinner in football and wrestling and was state heavyweight champion in 1951.

Veldman attended the University of Minnesota where he played football from 1951 to 1953. Following his sophomore season, Veldman served military duty in Korea for 16 months before returning to college.

Back at the U of M, Veldman wrestled from 1957 to 1959 and won two Big Ten Conference team championships. Individually, Veldman placed third and fourth in the Big Ten and wrestled in three NCAA Championships.

Veldman went on to teach physical education and health in the South St. Paul School District and won district championships in 1963 and 64 as the high school’s head wrestling coach.

Veldman was named South St. Paul’s athletic director in 1964 and was a leader in the fight to add women’s athletics in the early 1970s.

Veldman has been inducted into athletic hall of fames including the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2009.

Veldman currently lives in South St. Paul.

Rich Wendorff

Rich Wendorff graduated from Albert Lea High School in 1976 where he was a star basketball player and three-sport athlete.

During his senior basketball season, the 6-foot-4-inch Wendorff was named an All-State peformer by WCCO Radio, the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

He was the Big Nine Conference scoring champion, averaging 22.8 points per game and was unanimously named First-Team All-Conference. Wendorff also had the school’s single-season scoring record (504) and career scoring record (777) in only two seasons on varsity.

Wendorff also starred after high school at Rochester Junior College and Winona State University.

At RJC, Wendorff was the top scorer in the National Junior College Athletic Association Region, averaging 24 points per game over 23 games.

At WSU, Wendorff was named All-Northern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and scored more than 1,000 career points in two seasons.

In addition to basketball, Wendorff was a two-year letterwinner in cross country and track at Albert Lea High School.

Wendorff currently lives in Lakeville.

Lois Fagerquist

Lois Fagerquist coached varsity volleyball, softball, basketball, track and field, gymnastics and cheer team over 15 years at Albert Lea High School.

As volleyball coach her teams won nine out of a possible 10 Big Nine championships and were Region 1AA champions in 1983. During Fagerquist’s final three seasons as volleyboall coach, her teams finished a combined 57-17.

In 1983, the Albert Lea volleyball team was awarded the state’s Sportsmanship Award and Fagerquist was named Minnesota State Volleyball Coach of the Year.

After leaving Albert Lea, Fagerquist continued teaching physical education and health, and coaching volleyball and golf at Rampart and Liberty High Schools in Colorado Springs, Colo. She retired in 2006.

Fagerquist currently lives in Colorado Springs.

Biographies of Rich Oliphant, Jeff Brooke, Donna (Boom) Turner, Roger Neist and Craig Dahl will be in the June 19 issue of the Tribune.