LACROSSE, Wis. – Tim Fader, one of the all-time great wrestlers in Augustana's storied history in the sport, will be inducted into the National Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame at the 2017 NCAA Division III National Tournament. The NWCA will be hosting its 2017 Championship and Hall of Fame Ceremony on Thursday, March 9, in the La Crosse Center Ballroom beginning with a social at 6:00 p.m. with the Division III NWCA Hall of Fame Ceremony starting at 6:30 p.m. 
 
The 2017 inductees are coaches and former student-athletes who will join the distinguished list of Hall of Famers who have set a standard of excellence in the field of Division III wrestling. Fader becomes the fifth person from Augustana to be inducted into the NWCA Hall of Fame. He joins former Viking national champions Chris Casey (1991) and Raphael Wilson (2000) along with his coach Kevin Puebla (2006) and longtime Augustana wrestling contributor Terry Shockley (2011). He was inducted into the Augustana "Tribe of Vikings" Hall of Fame in 2011.
 
When Fader's Augustana wrestling career ended in 1991, only two grapplers in the history of the school's storied program had recorded more wins in a Viking singlet. He won 124 matches in his four years, while dropping just 39, capped by a 43-10 record as a senior. He finished his four years as a two-time team MVP, CCIW champion and All-American and three-time national qualifier.
 
After earning a second-place state finish at 126 pounds at Rochelle (Ill.) High School, Fader came to Augustana and wrestled at 142 pounds for his entire four years. As a freshman, he split time at that weight with future Viking head coach Pat Marsh, going 16-14. For the next three years he would have the weight class all to himself.
 
He led the team in wins as a sophomore, going 31-9 and winning his first College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin 142-pound title as well as team MVP honors. He qualified for the national tournament, where he finished just one match shy of earning All-America honors.
 
He achieved that All-America recognition a year later, qualifying again for nationals and bringing home a fourth-place finish. He finished his junior season with a 34-6 record, leading the Vikings in wins and capturing the CCIW championship and team MVP honors for the second straight year.
 
Augustana hosted the NCAA Division III nationals in 1991 and Fader again qualified, winning fifth-place hardware at 142 pounds in front of the Carver Center faithful. He finished the year with a 43-10 record and won All-America honors for the second time.
 
As impressive as Fader's feats were on the mat, his academic achievements were no less striking. He was a three-time National Wrestling Coaches Association Scholar Athlete and a two-time GTE first team Academic All-American as selected by CoSIDA. In addition, his senior year was capped when he was named the winner of Augustana's Knut Erickson Award, presented annually to the senior blanket award winner with the highest cumulative grade point average.
 
"Lived it and loved it!" said Fader of his Augustana experience. "It made me who I am. Great friends, mentors and memories."
 
He graduated from Augustana in 1991 with a degree in business administration. He later earned his master's degree in sports management from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse. 
 
Fader is in his second season as head wrestling coach UW-Eau Claire. Prior to UW-Eau Claire, Fader was most recently the assistant wresting coach at Wheaton College. Prior to Wheaton he spent 10 years as the head coach at UW-Whitewater and in 2013-14, guided the Warhawks to a second place finish at the NCAA Division III Championships, the highest finish in program history. Prior to coaching at UW-Whitewater, Fader was the head wrestling coach at UW-La Crosse.  His La Crosse teams finished in the top-20 in the NCAA tournament and won the WIAC each year that he was there. 
 
In his time in the WIAC, Fader was named WIAC Coach of the Year four times (1999, 2001, 2002, 2014) and National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Coach of the Year twice (2001, 2012). The 2014 Division III Coach of the Year has coached 43 All-Americans and 53 Scholastic All-Americans. Fader led the Eagles to six top-10 finishes including a National Dual Meet Championship in 2000. With the Warhawks, he tallied four top-12 finishes including a third place finish in 2013, in addition to 2014's national runner-up finish.
 
Prior to assuming the head coaching role at La Crosse, Fader served as a UW-L assistant for three seasons (1995-98), was an assistant at the University of Minnesota-Morris (1994-95), an assistant coach at Oregon (Ill.) High School (1993-94) and an assistant coach at Augustana College (Ill.) after graduating in 1991. 
 
Prior to taking the head coaching job at UW-Whitewater in 2004, he spent nine seasons at UW-LaCrosse, including the last six as head coach. He had assistant coaching positions at his alma mater for two years and Oregon (Ill.) High School and the University of Minnesota-Morris for one year each. He also spent two years with the accounting firm of McGladrey & Pullen in Moline, Illinois.
 
Tim and his wife Tracey are parents to McKenzie, Molly, Shae and Rye.
 
 Fader was born in Ida Grove, Iowa, in the northwest part of the state, but grew up in Rochelle, Illinois. His father Pete, a former wrestler at Coe College in the late 1960s, was a teacher and wrestling coach at Rochelle Township High School.