Melchior Polowy

American sport wrestler and wrestling coach

Born

1911

Died

1997

Citizenship

United States

Sport

amateur wrestling

Occupation

coach, amateur wrestler

Brother Melchior Polowy CSC (1911–1997) was a Catholic member of the Congregation of Holy Cross. He was one of the principal founders of high school wrestling in Louisiana.

He entered the Congregation of Holy Cross at St. Joseph's Novitiate in Rolling Prairie, Indiana, and took his vows in 1939. Brother Polowy's teams at Holy Cross High School in New Orleans won 22 state championships from 1945 to 1968. Brother Melchior retired from coaching in 1971 and was honored 36 years later, and ten years posthumously by the Louisiana chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame for his work. After retiring from coaching Brother Melchior remained at Holy Cross High School as an educator, teaching both religion classes and weight-lifting classes through the 1970s and '80s. Brother Melchior died in November 1997 at the age of 86 of pneumonia at Dujarie House in Notre Dame, Indiana. In 2002, he was the subject of a book about his work in wrestling.

External links

• Wikipedia
• Wikidata

Facts from Wikidata Q6812015 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.

Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.