Bird second name enshrined on Wall of Honor
By Jason Arndt
Staff Writer
Three decades after graduating from Westosha Central High School, where he produced an illustrious wrestling career, Kevin Bird was enshrined as the newest member of the program’s Wall of Honor.
Bird, who now lives in Burlington, was a 1986 state tournament runner-up as a senior. He said he felt elated to receive recognition for his wrestling career at the school.
“I am excited, I think it’s neat that they are reaching out to the alumni,” said Bird, who is the second wrestler to earn the honor after Ky Olsen.
The Wall of Honor, in its second year of existence, was developed by Westosha Central varsity wrestling coach Jason Ladd.
Ladd said the driving force behind the honor is to motivate current and future Westosha Central wrestlers to bring their efforts to the next level of excellence.
“It’s great to make that connection,” he said. “The biggest thing when I started this was to get the guys to realize there is a great tradition here. These guys are still around and they are great wrestlers and are someone to look up to.”
Bird, who started his high school career in 1982, collected more than state runner-up honors. He also collected two conference titles and qualified for the state meet twice.
Following graduation from the school, where he tallied 95 career wins, Bird continued his career at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and UW-Parkside.
Between both schools, he was a three-time national qualifier and collected more than 100 career victories.
Keith Olsen, current Westosha Central track coach, saw Bird’s development when he served as an assistant wrestling coach.
“He was a hard worker all through high school, and he has dedicated his whole life to wrestling,” said Olsen. “What he did in college, was pretty impressive, he had 100 wins in college.”
Developing future wrestlers
Following his collegiate wrestling career, Bird remained committed to wrestling as a coach.
From there, Bird passed along his legacy to son Josh, a state champion at Burlington High School.
“I have been around the whole wrestling arena since I coached at UW-Parkside, and then moved out to Burlington,” said Bird, who helped guide the Burlington Catholic Central program, in addition to other community roles.
“I started working with a youth program, with a couple of the wrestlers from Burlington, and I have been doing it since.”
While his children, including Jaden and Jared, have Burlington roots, he always supports his former youth wrestlers who now compete for Westosha Central.
“I really get nervous when I guy I worked with at Burlington youth wrestles for Westosha. Those guys, I wanted them to win,” Bird said. “They had some tough matches and that was really fun to watch.”
Moving forward
As he remains committed to wrestling, Bird is also dedicated to his family, which include wife, Caryn, a 1988 Westosha Central graduate and his three sons.
Josh, who graduated from BHS last year, wrestles at Chadron State in Nebraska.
“(Josh) is doing good, he enjoys wrestling out there, loves the people, loves the area and acclimating himself to the school,” Bird said.
After Josh comes Jared, a junior BHS wrestler sidelined with an injury, and Karcher School eighth-grader Jaden.
Kevin Bird is Vice President at Wanasek Corporation in a Burlington, a position he has held since 1996, following a stint in the banking industry.
“I have been there ever since. I love it. I love the guys, they work hard,” said Kevin.
Kevin Bird, meanwhile, hopes to see a rejuvenation of the wrestling program at Westosha Central.
“I think it’s important for the kids to see what happened in the past so they can put themselves on the wall someday,” said Kevin.