Don Gehrmann

Don Gehrman won the NCAA 1,500/Mile championship three times consecutively (1948-50) for the University of Wisconsin. As a junior and senior he won the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games. He also won the AAU indoor 1,000 yards in 1952-53. Gehrmann was Big 10 mile champion four straight years, and in all, won 12 Big 10 Championships. At the AAU Outdoors he was third in 1947 in the mile, and in the 800, placed fourth in 1948 and sixth in 1952.

Gehrmann graduated from Wisconsin in 1950 with an education degree. He later earned a masters’ degree in educational psychology, and worked for many years in his native Wisconsin as a school teacher and administrator, after spending several years in public relations jobs with AAA and Schlitz Brewing. While teaching he coached at Wauwatosa East High School for 13 years and then worked for the Wisconsin state government. In 1977, he was appointed Highway Safety Coordinator under then Governor Martin Schreiber. Gerhmann retired from state service in 1985.

In 1981, he was inducted into the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame, and in 2000 was named one of the 15 top University of Wisconsin athletes of the century.

Personal Bests: 880y – 1:50.7 (1950); 1500 – 3:50.6 (1952); Mile – 4:07.5i (1955); 2 miles – 9:08.21 (1950).