ASHLAND, Wis. – One of Northland College's most decorated dual sport athletes joins the rest of the Northland Athletics Hall of Fame. Dan Crawford has received his plaque and will hang next to John Allen's in the Kendrigan Center Chapple Family Gymnasium.
 
A member of the 2022 Hall of Fame, Crawford has received a corrected plaque after a plaque error. Northland Athletics and current Athletic Director Dan Schumacher wanted to make things right with Dan Crawford.  
             
    
    
Crawford came to Northland College in 1972 as a wrestler and football player and graduated in '76. "Northland in the early Seventies had quite a diverse population," Crawford recalled "We were nearing the end of the Vietnam War, and every one of us knew someone who had served over there.  Like everywhere else, NC had its share of war protests....and division over that ran deep.  Football was a big deal on campus and off.  We attended the High School games on Friday night, and much of the town turned out for our Saturday games.  We had homecoming dances, bonfires, a parade, king/queen, all done in conjunction with the High School doing theirs.  Wrestling peaked that decade-from '73 to 79, NC dominated the Midwest in that sport.  We routinely beat UMD, and all the UW state schools, and won tournament titles, both individually and as a team.  The '77/78 team went 15-1, won three tourney team titles, and sent a van load of guys to the National Tournament.  We have always held that team as the most dominant sports team ever to come out of NC.  Classes were tough a lot of our guys in sports were going for graduate degrees, and there were no "gimme" grades.  Nick Bystrom, Lee Stadnyk and Dick Verch made you earn and prep for every test and grade.  For those of us in multiple sports, it was a constant challenge to study on road trips, before and after practices and games.  The Profs were understanding, however, and help was offered with study groups and tutors."
 
Along with Dan Crawford, his brother Tim Crawford also attended. "On a personal note, Northland has shaped my whole life, as well as my extended family.  I came here on scholarship for football and wrestling.  Met my wife here.  Her father was a prof here.  My brother and my wife's sister are alums."
 
Starting as most improved his sophomore season on the gridiron, the accolades continued to follow. In 1974 he was named team team-best tackler which helped cement him as team captain for the following two seasons. Crawford was named All-Conference for three seasons and ended his football career by being named to the All-District 14 team. His awards did not stop there, in wrestling he won eight tournament titles and qualified for the National Tournament four times. During his season, Crawford was team captain and was voted MVP for Northland. Just like in football, he made the All-Conference team twice and All-District 14 in his final year. During his time at Northland, Dan Crawford became the winningest wrestler in Northland history breaking Barry Caspers' record of 66 with 75 wins. His brother Tim now holds the record at 84 wins. "I was never the biggest, strongest, or fastest in any sport, but could get mean when I had to," Crawford stated. "I was fortunate to be able to practice daily in both sports with quality people that made me better just trying to keep up with them."

 

While attending Northland, Ashland, Wis., became home for Crawford. "I became firmly entrenched in Ashland as a home, and never left," said Crawford. "I joined the police department in '77, and retired as Chief of Police in 2004.  Stayed in contact throughout my career/life with NC, serving three terms on the Alumni board."
 
Now Crawford runs the athletic archives for Northland College. "During that time (serving on the Alumni board), we had a flood over in the library, which was where the archives were housed.  A lot was lost, the rest carried up to the attic of the science building and dumped in a big pile.  It was brought to the attention of the board, and three of us quit the board to tackle the problem Ori Anne Pagel, Don Chase, and myself.  We put down a plywood floor, built shelves, and started hauling and sorting.  It has taken us the last dozen years to get things to the point where we can locate things and people without having to dig through random files and boxes.  By default and interest, I wound up doing all the sports files.  They are now all broken down by sport/sex and year, and if given a name we can usually produce a whole history on that person.  The whole history of our school is in that room, and it must be preserved for our kids and grandkids."
 
Dan Crawford is one of the many examples of the success stories at Northland College and of Northland College Athletics. All the time and effort are why Crawford will be in the Hall of Fame.