By FRED KRONER
Rob Ledin’s association with wrestling spans almost a half-century.
Not bad for someone who is 55 years old.
The veteran Mahomet-Seymour wrestling head coach will be honored for his commitment, dedication and impact by the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association at its annual banquet on Sunday (April 16) at Countryside. Ledin will be presented with a Lifetime Service Award.
And, he’s not done yet.
He’ll be back in the wrestling room with the Bulldogs for Year 18 when another season starts in November. Even though he plans to retire as a teacher after four more years (June, 2027), he hopes to continue his coaching career.
“I’d like to stay on (at M-S) a couple more years after I retire from teaching,” Ledin said. “We’ll see what the administration says.”
Ledin is the winningest coach all-time at M-S (340 career dual meet wins) covering all sports.
His upcoming honor though has little to do with success on the scoreboard. It’s a reflection on his devotion to a sport he started as a second-grader in the south side of Chicago 48 years ago at Marquette Park.
“I was a kid with a lot of energy,” Ledin said. “In today’s world, I’d probably be classified ADHD. My step-father (Hall-of-Famer Donald Ledin) introduced me to the sport.
“He thought wrestling would be good for me, but then he stepped away and let me do my thing.”
Since that beginning, which took place during the 1974-75 school year, wrestling has been a constant in Ledin’s life.
“There has not been a time I have been totally 100 percent away from it,” he said.
That doesn’t mean he didn’t consider it.
Ledin wound up attending St. Laurence High School, in Burbank, where he was a two-time regional champion as well as a Chicago Catholic League champion.
Through a series of breaks that didn’t go in his favor, he never qualified for an IHSA state tournament.
“I had a disappointing senior year,” Ledin said. “I was ranked third in the state, but got the flu the week of sectional and didn’t qualify (for state).
“I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it in college.”
Coaches from Illinois State University and Augustana College maintained their interest and Ledin eventually committed to George Girardi’s ISU program.
Wrestling wasn’t the highlight of his five years on campus, even though he was a letterman.
“I met my wife (Christa) at ISU,” Ledin said.
He had more misfortune with the Redbirds. After two years at ISU, a shoulder injury caused Ledin to spend his junior year in rehabilitation.
“My shoulder wouldn’t cooperate,” he said.
His competitive career was finished, but he was just getting started with his contributions.
Before graduating in 1990 from ISU where he changed majors three times – “I went from business to recreation to education,” Ledin said – he took up officiating, which he added, “was good spending money for a college kid.”
While still in college, he also joined Jim Ledbetter’s coaching staff at Bloomington High School as a volunteer.
Ledin did his student teaching in Hinsdale and stayed in the community two more years as an associate dean of students and assistant wrestling coach at Hinsdale South.
He then returned to his native Chicago, where he was a physical education teacher at St. Richards Elementary School. For a little more than three years, Ledin also worked for the Chicago Park District, where he started an IKWF youth wrestling program, the Archer Park Rats.
In 1994, the Ledins returned to Normal where Rob taught at Normal Community and was the head freshmen wrestling coach as well as the junior high wrestling coach at Chiddix.
He learned about an opening at Clinton High School for a head wrestling coach. He knew more about the sport than he did about the school.
“I didn’t know where Clinton was,” he said.
He and Christa took a break from painting their house to deliver a resume in person to the school, “and I ended up in a full interview,” while wearing the clothes he had worn while painting.
That same evening, he was offered the job, “but there was no teaching position, and I turned it down,” he said.
Clinton came back with a counter-offer where he would teach physical education, health and driver’s education, and he accepted.
It was during those years that Ledin began his association with the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association (IWCOA).
“He’s a big part of the IWCOA,” said former Prairie Central coach Joe Cliffe. “He was our membership chairman and helped establish the protocol with the computer program we use.
“First and foremost, he is a man of integrity. He supports the kids and is in it for the right reasons. He’s a sportsman and is not using kids as a vehicle for notoriety.”
Ledin, however, is no stranger to recognition from the IWCOA or the IHSA.
He was inducted into the IWCOA Hall of Fame in 2011, is a former state Coach of the Year and also served as a Grand Marshall at the 2018 IHSA state tournament.
“Basically I do it because I want kids to have the greatest opportunity in the sport,” said Ledin, who has served on the IWCOA executive board since 1999 and is a past-President.
“I’ve thrown my extra time and energy to growing wrestling, and even today to helping grow women’s wrestling. I love the sport and I wanted my wrestlers to have an opportunity that maybe I personally didn’t have.
“We’ve done a lot. We’ve been a voice in the ear of the IHSA.”
Such additions as the three-class tournament and the dual-meet postseason series, he said, “came about from us being vocal.”
He views his work with wrestlers as a means to a greater good.
“You can’t just be a champion in one area,” Ledin said. “You have to do it all.”
Ledin stayed at Clinton for eight years, before embarking on a two-year stint at Morton, that was followed by a year back at Normal Community while he completed work in 2006 on his master’s degree.
His involvement with wrestling that year included working at the table (during tournaments) and helping coach at Chiddix, as time permitted.
As he completed his coursework and prepared to look for an administrative position, Ledin received an email from former LeRoy High School wrestling coach Jeff Baughman.
“He told me the Mahomet position was open,” Ledin said.
He interviewed with Marty Williams, the former M-S wrestling coach who directed the school to five Class 1A IHSA team state titles in a seven-year period in the 1980s.
He found himself in a virtually identical situation as when he received his first offer at Clinton.
“They had no teaching position,” Ledin said.
Eventually, he was offered a position at M-S which included a combination of teaching health, P.E. and driver’s education.
“They brought back a position that had gone away,” Ledin said.
He was also asked to work part-time in the alternative education program and, when Tom Shallenberger, left for an administrative position in Fisher, Ledin was hired as the alt ed director, a position he still holds.
“For a while, I had four kinds of prep (work) going on,” he said. “I definitely feel that wrestling has opened the door for my day job.”
Cliffe first met Ledin in 1996, when he was in his first year at the helm of the Prairie Central program.
“Our teams were in the same regional,” Cliffe said. “We both had the same intentions and formed a good bond.
“He has the whole package and this is a well-deserved honor. He has developed his program and his kids the way they need to learn.”
As an IWCOA committee member, Ledin has also helped to orchestrate the annual freshmen-sophomore state-meet series, which is not affiliated with the IHSA.
Ledin’s next Mahomet-Seymour program will look drastically different than his most recent one, a 32-8 squad which was a senior-dominated group that lost in the IHSA Class 2A state quarterfinals.
“There are holes to fill, but I hope there are horses to pull up behind (the graduates),” said Ledin, whose association with wrestling will enter Year 49 in the fall.
If history is any indication, the rebuild won’t be a lengthy one.
“This was a special group and the model for what you want to aspire to,” Ledin said. “Back in ‘09, it was very similar.
“They are special people who make it fun to coach.”
Ledin’s track record speaks for itself.
During his 27 years as a head coach at three different high schools, he has amassed a 489-182 dual meet record, a 72.9 winning percentage.
In that span, he has coached 97 individual state qualifiers, 32 state medalists and seven state champions.
In 17 years at M-S, his teams have won 15 conference championships, 12 regional titles and placed among the state’s top eight teams six times.
Once he enters the retirement portal in 2027, Ledin expects to have several options. Wrestling will continue to play a prominent role.
“Part of Act II is I’d like to be involved in coaching in some way, shape or form,” he said. “For a while, I kept my officiating license, but I don’t think I will do that.”
