(Atlantic) A former coach and two former wrestlers joined the Atlantic Wrestling Hall of Fames elite class on Friday night at the Atlantic Golf and Country Club. The inductees are former Head Coach Pat Williams and 1982 graduates Kent and Keith Behrends.
Click below to hear Atlantic Head wrestling Coach Tim Duff’s comment on the three inductees.
(Photo: Left to Right: Kent Behrends, Coach Lynn Barnes (presenter) and Keith Behrends
Kent Behrends
Kent Behrends, a 1982 graduate of Atlantic School, was an all-around athlete, excelling in all four sports: football, wrestling, track, and baseball. A former teammate described Kent and his brother, Keith, as “hard-working farm boys, and natural athletes that worked hard at getting better in season, and offseason. And maybe one of the most important attributes; “they were respectful to all of their classmates.”
During his sophomore year, wrestling at 145, he was the first sophomore to win a Hawkeye Eight Conference Wrestling Tournament Title. He finished with a 19-10 record and a third-place finish at districts.
Kent wrapped up his final two seasons on the mat with a decorated career, going 23-6-1 at 145 as a junior, losing five matches and one tie to Bob Kincaid of Glenwood. Kincaid went on to finish as the state runner-up. Behrends’ other loss came at the state wrestling tournament.
Behrends finished on the Iowa High School State Wrestling Tournament medal stand as a senior, earning fourth place. He went 27-3 and finished as the number one ranked wrestler at 145 in Southwest Iowa.
He finished his high school wrestling 69-19-1 overall.
Behrends also starred in three other sports. As a three-year letterman in football, the Atlantic football teams won 26 games, only five losses, two Hawkeye Ten Conference Championships, and qualified for the State Football Playoffs all three years, with a runner-up finish in 1981, with an undefeated regular season. Kent’s football prowess earned him many high honors, including First Team All-Conference, First Team All-State Class 3A, and 3rd Team All-State, all classes.
In track, he was a four-year letterman, four-time state track and Drake Relays qualifier, and a two-year letter winner in baseball, with first-team all-conference honors and second-team all-southwest Iowa.
After high school, Kent enrolled at the Unversity of Northern Iowa and graduated in 1986 with a Business Management and Marketing degree. He spent two and a half years working for Frito-Lay Inc. in Omaha and 25 years as a Sales Representative for Professional Office Services in Orlando, Florida, marketing medical printing and filing systems. Currently, Kent is employed as a ramp supervisor for Swissport at the Orlando, Florida, Airport.
Kent has four grown children, Marina, 27, Katie, and Kayla; identical twins, 25, Michael, 22; and two grandsons born this year, all living in Florida.
Kent is the son of Bruce and Marilyn Behrends, who reside on the family farm near Wiota.
Keith Behrends:
Keith Behrends had a storied high school career in four sports. He didn’t start wrestling until his sophomore year and finished as one of the best in the area as a senior.
Keith didn’t follow his twin brother Kent to the wrestling room during his freshman year, choosing to play basketball. However, he got a taste of both sports, attending basketball practice in the morning and wrestling practice after school, although he was not officially on the wrestling squad.
With some encouragement from the coaching staff, he hung up his basketball sneakers for a pair of headgear during his sophomore year. He wrestled junior varsity his sophomore season in the 145 lb weight class. In his junior year, he weighed 150 pounds and wrestled at 167 pounds to help the team. In his senior season, he settled in, finished with a record of 24-4, and won an individual title at the Hawkeye 8 Conference Tournament.
Keith also starred on the gridiron as a three-year starter at wingback. Following his senior year, the accolades started to come in. He was selected first-team all-district and honorable mention all-state. As aforementioned with twin brother Kent, Keith played on Atlantic Football Teams that won 26 games, only five losses, two Hawkeye 8 Conference Championships, and qualified for the State Football Playoffs all three years, with a runner-up finish in 1981, with an undefeated regular season record.
Keith’s athleticism led him to stardom on the track and baseball field. He was an outstanding baseball player and a four-year state track and Drake Relays qualifier. An all-conference performer on the baseball diamond, he batted over .400, playing centerfield and earning First Team All-Southwest Iowa in his junior and senior seasons. He ended his baseball career playing for the West team in the East-West All-Star game.
Keith enrolled at the University of Northern Iowa and later transferred to Iowa State University with a Marketing Degree. He landed a job as a sales representative for Professional Office Services in Los Angeles, California. He married his wife, Lily, and they moved to Florida, where he and his wife started an independent medical equipment company. After that, his marketing career led him to Medtronic, a pacemaker company, for seven years. He is now with Prometheus Group, selling capital medical equipment for the past 13 years.
Keith currently resides in Bradenton-Sarasota, Florida. Keith and his wife, Lily, have two grown sons, Ty, 25, and Ryan, who will be 22 in December.
Keith is the son of Bruce and Marilyn Behrends, who currently reside on the family farm near Wiota.
(Photo: Left to Right: Presenter, Kelly Muller, Coach Pat Williams)
Pat Williams
Pat Williams’ stint as the Head Wrestling Coach at Atlantic wasn’t long, but his accomplishments were many.
Coach Williams spent four years at the helm. He took over the reins at the start of the 2001-2002 season and ended the year with an 8-10 record. His teams went 14-4, 11-5, and 15-5 the next three years. He coached numerous state qualifiers, including three-time state medalist and State Champion Tyler Blum and medalists Justin Retallic, Ryan Brown, and Kelly Muller. Additionally, Coach Williams was instrumental in building a program. He played an instrumental part in developing wrestlers as youths and put a lot of effort into the Little Kids Wrestling program, which is alive and well today.
Pat’s success as a coach started at a young age and continued throughout his high school years at Decorah and college career at the University of Northern Iowa. Pat was a four-sport athlete at Decorah, earning all-state honors in football, wrestling, track, and baseball, including a runner-up finish in the 185 weight class at the Iowa High School State Wrestling Tournament his senior year.
He took his talents to the next level and was recruited by the coaching staff at the University of Northern Iowa to play football. He played as a true freshman, Tight End, long snapper, and offensive guard as a starter in his junior and senior seasons. During his time at UNI, the Panthers won three Conference titles.
Williams’ coaching career started in Marshalltown, where he spent eight years, and Atlantic as head wrestling coach for four years before making a difficult family decision to move Earlham and eventually back to Marshalltown.
His three sons followed in his footsteps as athletes. Peyton, a state wrestling tournament medalist, is now teaching and assistant wrestling Coach at Southeast Polk High School. Carson is a sophomore at Tight End at North Dakota State University, and Gannon is a Red Shirt freshman on the football team at NDSU.
Pat Williams lives in Clive and owns his own Fire Education Business.
