Lifetime Service to Wrestling

I became a wrestler in 1966 at University of Wisconsin Superior as a walk on with no experience. Encouraged by Hall of Famer Jim Stephenson and coached by Hall of Famer Mertz Mortorelli, I was cannon fodder but learned the hard lessons of wrestling and would not quit.

In 1970, Jim, who was coaching at Waunakee High School, came back to Superior to attend the NAIA Nationals, and look for an assistant coach. He told me to apply, and I began my coaching career with Jim.

After three years in Waunakee, I wanted to look for another challenge and applied at D. C. Everest. The newly hired head coach was Hall of Famer Fred Lehrke, coming off a State Championship at Monroe. What are the odds, coached by, and an assistant to three Hall of Fame coaches? I consider myself incredibly lucky.

After the 1974 season, Fred asked me to take some wrestlers to a freestyle tournament and said I should referee. I told him I had never seen a freestyle match, so he gave me a rulebook. That was on a Friday and the tournament was Saturday. I read the book that night and when I got there, found that I was the only one who had ever seen the rulebook. I really enjoyed refereeing and have been doing it ever since.

We moved to Sparta in 1979 to accept the head wrestling coaching position and teach Biology. I continued to officiate, attending state, regional, and national events. That was the beginning of the modern Wisconsin Wrestling Federation.

I attended my first Junior Nationals tournament in 1975 at Iowa City and have only missed two since then. Along with over 150 USA Wrestling Regional and National events. I have been honored with many awards, the highest being the United States Wrestling Official of the Year in 1997.

After moving to New Jersey in 1984 to teach and coach at Toms River North High School, I became an international referee with FILA, now United World Wrestling, in 1985. I was fortunate enough to work twenty years in FILA and participate in over twenty international events in the USA, Europe, Africa, Asia and Central America in both Freestyle and Greco Roman.

While coaching in New Jersey I also became a high school wrestling official and have been for 27 years. Due to physical ailments, mostly from old wrestling injuries, I stopped refereeing and became an evaluator of officials at the local and state level to improve our New Jersey officials.

I wrestled with six Hall of Fame members, was coached by a Hall of Famer, coached with two Hall of Fame members and it is my greatest honor to join the Wisconsin Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.