A very well-respected former teacher and coach at Manitowoc Lincoln High School and a talented musician has died.
Dennis Kosloski passed away earlier this week.
He was 73.
“Koz”, as he was known, grew up in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, and was a very good high school and college athlete.
He taught Physical education at Lincoln High School, coached football and gained acclaim as a wrestling coach for the Ships.
Paul “Biff” Hansen was a teaching and coaching colleague of Kosloski and called him an outstanding person.
“We used to kid him about being the renaissance coach of Lincoln,” Biff recalled. “Not only a great athletic coach in wrestling and football, but a musician. (The) Guy could play the clarinet like not many people, he was just very, very good. And he was a scholar. When you talked to him he knew information that many of us didn’t.”
Hansen said he first met Koz when he was a sophomore in high school and recalled that one of his best traits was he knew kids.
“Not just how to run the football blocks, how to do a takedown or get a reversal,” Biff said. “He knew how to do that but also knew how to get through to kids and work them hard and make them successful. I’m really going to miss Dennis.”
Kosloski spent his entire 40 year teaching career in the Manitowoc Public School District, including 21 years as head wrestling coach and an assistant in the football program.
He also coached wrestling for shorter stints at both Lakeland University and Mishicot High School.
Dennis was inducted into both the Lakeshore All Sports and George Martin Wrestling Halls of Fame.
A Memorial service is scheduled for Saturday, January 28th at 2:00 p.m. at First Lutheran Church in Manitowoc.
