Doug Vaith

Doug Vaith and Lake City Wrestling

By Brian Jerzak

When high school athletics are done correctly, the focus is on the kids involved. As an extension of making the kids the centerpiece, families become almost as important. More than anything, family has shaped Doug Vaith's coaching career and, in turn, has shaped the path of the Lake City wrestling program.

As first-generation wrestlers, the Vaith family would soon put their stamp on Minnesota wrestling.

"My oldest brother played basketball, but my second oldest brother – Paul, who coaches in Hastings – got going in wrestling and four of my five brothers got into it," Vaith said. "We wrestled for Blooming Prairie; three of us ended up being state qualifiers. I started wrestling in fourth grade and was a state qualifier in 1981."

Although not wrestling people, Vaith's parents supported their sons' passion.