The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the Upper Midwest of the United States. Nine of its members are in Minnesota, with three members in South Dakota, two members in North Dakota, and one member in Nebraska. It was founded in 1932. With the recent NSIC expansion, the original six member schools have been reunited.
The University of Minnesota Morris (UMN–Morris) is a public liberal arts college in Morris, Minnesota. It is part of the University of Minnesota system and was founded in 1960 as a public, co-educational, residential liberal arts college offering Bachelor of Arts degrees.
John William Smith is an American folkstyle and freestyle wrestler and coach. Smith was a two-time NCAA Division I national champion, and a six-time world level champion with two Olympic Championships and four World Wrestling Championships. Smith is the only American wrestler ever to win six consecutive World and Olympic championships as a competitor. At the end of his competitive career, Smith had won more World and Olympic gold medals in wrestling than any other American. Smith was widely known for his low single leg takedown, and is considered one of the greatest freestyle wrestlers of all time.
Don Muraco is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation from 1981 to 1988, where he held the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship on two occasions and was crowned the inaugural winner of the King of the Ring tournament in 1985. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2004 and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2014.
Daniel DeWayne Severn, nicknamed "the Beast", is an American professional wrestler, retired mixed martial artist and amateur wrestler. A UFC Hall of Fame member, Severn is considered one of the leading pioneers of mixed martial arts and the first true world-class wrestler to compete in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is best known for his success in the early years of the UFC where he became the first UFC Triple Crown champion in history by winning the UFC 5 tournament, Ultimate Ultimate 1995, and UFC Superfight Championship. Severn has also competed in King of the Cage, PRIDE FC, Cage Rage, WEC, RINGS and MFC, and holds a professional MMA Record of 101–19–7.
William F. Watts Jr. is a retired American professional wrestler, promoter and former American football player. Watts garnered fame under his "Cowboy" gimmick in his wrestling career, and then as a promoter in the Mid-South United States, which grew to become the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF).
Nobuhiko Takada is a Japanese former mixed martial artist, retired professional wrestler, actor, and writer. He competed in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) and the Union of Wrestling Forces International (UWFI) in the 1980s and 1990s, becoming one of the highest figures of the "shoot-style" movement.
Daniel Allen Hodge was an American amateur and professional wrestler, who also had a brief professional boxing career. He is in both the U.S. amateur wrestling Hall of Fame, for his three NCAA titles and Olympic silver medal, and the pro wrestling Hall of Fame, as a seven-time NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion. The Dan Hodge Trophy is the college wrestling equivalent of the Heisman Trophy.
Karel Istaz, best known by his ring name Karl Gotch, was a Belgian-American professional wrestler, amateur wrestler, catch wrestler, and trainer.
The Northern Iowa Panthers are the athletic teams of the University of Northern Iowa. The university is a member of the Missouri Valley Conference and competes in NCAA Division I.
Gary Mitchell Albright was an American professional wrestler best known for his work in Japan, first with UWF International (UWFi), and later All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). In AJPW, Albright was a two-time World Tag Team Champion. Albright was also known for his work with Stampede Wrestling in Canada, under his birth name as well as the ring name Vokhan Singh.
Richard Alexander Glas is an American basketball coach who was most recently the head men's basketball coach at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. In a coaching career that spanned 1970 to 2017, Glas had various assistant and head coaching positions in college basketball and was head coach at Minnesota Morris from 1974 to 1979, Willamette from 1979 to 1984, North Dakota from 1988 to 2006, and Concordia from 2008 to 2017.
Sports in Minnesota include professional teams in all major sports, Olympic Games contenders and medalists, especially in the Winter Olympics, collegiate teams in major and small-school conferences and associations and active amateur teams and individual sports. The State of Minnesota has a team in all five major professional leagues. Along with professional sports, there are numerous collegiate teams including the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers and St. Thomas Tommies in NCAA Division I, as well as many others across the Minnesota public and private colleges and universities.
James Samuel Malosky Sr. was an American football coach. He ranks 18th all-time in wins among college football coaches in all divisions. He was the head football coach at the University of Minnesota Duluth for 40 years from 1958 to 1997. He compiled a career record of 255–125–13 and is ranked second all-time in wins among NCAA Division II football coaches.
The Minnesota State Mavericks are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Minnesota State University, Mankato. The school's athletic program includes 21 varsity sports teams. More than 600 students participate each year in athletics for the university. Most of the university's athletic teams compete at the NCAA Division II level in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC). The men's and women's ice hockey teams compete at the Division I level, respectively in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) and Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA). Minnesota State began competition in the NSIC in 2008–09, due to the dissolution of the North Central Conference. It was also one of the seven WCHA men's hockey members that left that league after the 2020–21 season to reestablish the CCHA, a move that led to the demise of the men's side of the WCHA.
The Northern State Wolves are the athletic teams that represent Northern State University, located in Aberdeen, South Dakota, U.S., in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports. The Wolves compete as members of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference for all 13 varsity sports. Northern State has been a member of the conference since 1978, and they also have the fifth-smallest enrollment of the 16 member schools. In the 1990s, all members of the NSIC solely became members of NCAA Division II, after spending many years with dual membership with the NAIA.
The St. Cloud State Huskies are the athletic teams for St. Cloud State University. The university is primarily a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC), and currently sponsors 18 NCAA Division II teams. SCSU also sponsors a women's Nordic skiing team through membership in the CCSA, as well as men's and women's Division I ice hockey teams that are members of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (men) and Western Collegiate Hockey Association (women). The teams go by the nickname Huskies, and the school's mascot is a husky named Blizzard.
The Wayne State Wildcats are the athletic teams that represent Wayne State College, located in Wayne, Nebraska, in intercollegiate sports at the Division II level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) in all sports since the 1999–2000 academic year. The Wildcats previously competed in the Central States Intercollegiate Conference (CSIC) of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) from 1976–77 to 1988–89; as well as in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) as a provisional member during the 1989–90 school year.
The Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles are the athletic teams that represent University of Minnesota Crookston, located in Crookston, Minnesota, in intercollegiate sports at the NCAA Division II ranks, primarily competing in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) since the 1999–2000 academic year; with the women's equestrian teams competing in the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA).
Duane Koslowski is an American wrestler. He competed in the men's Greco-Roman 130 kg at the 1988 Summer Olympics. His twin brother, Dennis Koslowski, wrestled with him at Minnesota-Morris and was a two-time Olympic medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling.
