Auburn WrestlingArnold "Swede" Umbach Fund for Excellence
Arnold "Swede" Umbach introduced the sport of wrestling to the Deep South. He spent 27 years as coach at Auburn University showing his opponents what it takes to win wrestling championships.
His Tigers captured 25 team trophies in the conference he founded, the Southeastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association. They won 249 dual meets, lost just 28 and tied five. Only one of those defeats was at the hands of a conference opponent. He coached 127 conference champions and four national winners.
Umbach earned renown not only as an athlete and coach, but also as one of wrestling's pioneer officials. He served the sport in many ways, giving hundreds of free clinics, acting as president of the National Coaches' Association and a member of various rules committees, authoring three books and hosting the first NCAA tournament held in the South. Coach Umbach was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, and was named coach of the year three times while at Auburn.
To honor Coach Umbach and at the same time promote the growth of wrestling at Auburn University, a fund for excellence has been created in his memory through the Auburn University Foundation. Every year it provides partial scholarships to members of the Auburn Wrestling Club to help cover their educational expenses and is administered in the same way as traditional academic scholarships through the Auburn University Foundation. This endowment is a fitting tribute to the man who had a profound impact on many lives by personal contact or through his work in building wrestling programs at the collegiate level.