The Southwest Region of Virginia, land of beautiful scenery, long bus rides, and tough kids, has been well-served by long-time devotees of wrestling. Few, however, have won as much respect as Johnny Blevins, past commissioner and dean of the Southwest Virginia Wrestling Officials Association, now in his 51st year of keeping order on the mats.

Blevins was “born and raised” in Virginia, growing up in Marion (Smyth County), attending Wytheville Community College, earning his bachelor’s degree in physical education at nearby Emory & Henry in 1973, and his master's degree in middle school education at Radford in 1987.

Despite these educator credentials, he chose to run his own business, as an independent insurance agent for Travelers. Along the way, he met and married Debbie, a happy union that was blessed with Jessica and Brett.

He could never leave wrestling, though. After a brief stint as an assistant coach with an excellent Chilhowie High School program, he became an official and through the decades refereed literally thousands of wrestling matches.

Travis Fiser of Grundy, probably the most successful coach in the region, finds him to be “pleasant and even-tempered ... humble and fair.” while Hall of Fame coach Tass Robertson concludes that with Blevins in charge, “we know things will run smoothly and the wrestlers will decide the match.”

Reflecting his interest in middle school education, Blevins goes out of his way to promote middle school wrestling. For 30 years, he has made his way to Dobyns-Bennett High School in Tennessee to officiate at the National Middle School Duals.

His undimmed love for our sport and its youth shines through in his comment on those duals, “Each year of working this tournament, I become more amazed at the skill level of these young wrestlers, which I feel adds to the skill levels of wrestlers not only at the middle school level, but in the future at the high school and NCAA level.”