Coach James Robert (Jim) Allbaugh, of Shawano (formerly of Richland Center), gave us an “Irish goodbye” on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, making a peaceful departure from this world during the seventh inning stretch of Game 4 of the Brewers National League Championship Series sweep over the Dodgers sending Milwaukee to the World Series, which seemed odd as he was mostly of German heritage.
Coach Allbaugh was surrounded by his family, enjoying a great game, after having run the good race of life with a Personal Best time of 80 years, two months and 17.75 days. At his birthday party this past July, he said, “Not too bad for an old guy.”
His final “meet” took place at The Cottages-Memory Care where he wasn’t quite able to overcome that last obstacle of dementia, but boy did he enjoy his winning team and assistant coaches better known as RNs, CNAs and staff at The Cottages and ThedaCare-Hospice. His team also included his wife, Mary, and kids, Todd, Heather and Mike, along with so many friends, former wrestlers, cross country runners, assistant coaches and former students who made this meet his best race yet.
Jim was born July 27, 1946, in Richland Center, to his parents Robert “Bob” and Marguerite Allbaugh and raised on the homestead dairy farm in Bloom Township. He attended Ekelberry School, a one-room first through eighth grade country school just up the road. He was a 1964 graduate of Richland Center High School, lettering in football, wrestling and track. A solid foundation in wrestling was set by his high school coaches, Vern Peiper, Al Bauman and Norris Hattelstad.
Jim graduated from Richland County Teachers College in 1966 and began his teaching and coaching career at the age of 19 at Ithaca Public Schools. As head coach from 1969-74, his wrestling teams were 66-12-2.
The first junior high wrestling tournament in Wisconsin began at Ithaca. The first Grappalettes Club in Wisconsin, a girls club designed to help promote wrestling, was started at Ithaca. During this time, through summer schools and night classes, Jim obtained his bachelor’s degree in elementary education at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
In the fall of 1974, Jim was hired at the University of Wisconsin-Richland in Richland Center as health and physical education teacher, athletic director, head wrestling coach and head cross country coach.
In 1978, Paul Nooyen became the first Wisconsin wrestler to win a National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) title at 177 pounds. The team won the Wisconsin Junior College state title, and Jim had the honor of being chosen WJACC Wrestling Coach of the Year.
Jim and over 100 volunteers began a late winter youth wrestling tournament. It grew to be the largest in Wisconsin and the Midwest, with over 1,200 wrestlers from five states and Canada.
While at UWR, Jim was chosen for several leadership positions, and he completed his master’s degree in health and physical education at Winona State University in Winona, Minnesota.
In the early 1980s, he joined the Bay-Lakes Council of the Boy Scouts of America as a regional director, where he met the love of his life, Mary, who would go on to become his wife and partner in his coaching endeavors at Shawano where they would make their home. Jim was inducted into the Order of the Arrow, Scouting’s national honor society.
Jim and Mary also began The Jukebox: Mobile DJ Service and played countless dances, weddings, reunions and community events across northeast Wisconsin.
During the 1982-83 school year, Jim was the first wrestling coach at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay; unfortunately, the program was discontinued.
In 1984, Jim was hired by the Shawano Public Schools to teach middle school math and served as head wrestling coach (1984-94) and head cross country coach (1986-98). Jim coached the boys and girls varsity cross country teams, which grew from nine runners to more than 50.
Shawano won five Bay Conference titles and qualified athletes to both the state cross country and state wrestling meets in the same years, 1992 and 1994. This was the only time in school history the same coach accomplished that in two separate sports.
During his tenure as Shawano wrestling coach, promotion of the sport was paramount. An exciting slide, music and light introduction was created to build excitement at the introductions for dual meets. In 1986, he and his staff started the Shawano Holiday Classic Tournament. For the finals, they turned down the lights and developed a Parade of Champions, a format later introduced to the WIAA State Wrestling Finals.
During his time at Shawano, Jim served on the WIAA Wrestling Advisory Board and the Wisconsin Wrestling Coaches Executive Committee from 1986-90. Serving as District 2 Representative allowed Jim to serve Wisconsin wrestling and add input to improve the sport.
Without hesitation, Jim would say being involved with the original group that developed the 7% Rule in weight reduction guidelines was a highlight. Being involved with this committee allowed the Shawano High School wrestling program to be the first to implement this program. The 7% Rule is now the accepted weight reduction guideline for every high school and college in the nation.
Jim received the 20 Years of Service to Wrestling award from the WWCA in 1990. He was named Dedicated Teacher of the Year in 1992 by Shawano Public Schools. Jim spent 38 years officiating WIAA and NCAA wrestling and also officiated WIAA football and volleyball.
His 45 years of teaching, coaching and officiating at levels from elementary through college, from 1966 through 2011, were truly an honor and a blessing.
In 2012, Coach Allbaugh was enshrined in the George Martin Wisconsin Wrestling Hall of Fame. Jim credited John Berndt, Norris Hattelstad, Gary Gutknecht and the Wisconsin Wrestling Coaches Association for developing and working on the nomination. He has since been inducted into the Ithaca Wrestling, Richland Center Wrestling, UW-Richland Outstanding Alumni and Shawano Athletics halls of fame.
Jim is survived by his wife, Mary, of Shawano; son, Todd Allbaugh, of Madison; daughter, Heather (Michael) Galloy, of Eau Claire; son, Mike (Emily) Ulysses, of Portland, Oregon; granddaughters, Addison and Isabel Galloy, of Eau Claire; sisters, Peggy Allbaugh, of Charlotte, North Carolina, and Mary Allbaugh, of Madison; his lifelong best friend, John (Edwina) Melby, of Muscoda; several nieces and nephews; and countless wrestlers, runners, assistant coaches and friends. Coach Allbaugh’s family is enormously grateful to everyone for their support.
A celebration of life will be held Saturday, Oct. 31, at Hope Church of Shawano, beginning with coffee, doughnuts and visitation from 9 a.m. until noon. The celebration of life will begin at noon, followed by a light luncheon. Everyone is welcome.
Swedberg Funeral Home and Hope Church, both of Shawano, are assisting the family with arrangements.
To quote one of Coach Allbaugh’s favorite songs from Larry Gatlin and The Gatlin Brothers, “If, when you’re running, the wind is always in your face — just keep on running, ‘cause the wind, the wind is bound to change, bound to change.”
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” – 1 Corinthians 9:24
www.swedbergfuneralhome.com
