After graduating college, Pascal Perri was pushed into officiating by his high school coach, Sprig Gardner, a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

It was the beginning of a 35-year career as an official for high school, college and open events.

Perri officiated 17 NCAA Division I Championships and 27 consecutive Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association championships. He also worked three National AAU championships, the Olympic Trials, three East-West College All-Star championships, and a host of other regional and national qualifying tournaments.

In 1970, he was the referee of one of collegiate wrestling’s most famous matches, Larry Owings’ upset of Dan Gable in the NCAA finals.

Perri was a freshman basketball player at Mepham High School until he entered and won an intramural wrestling tournament.

From then on, he was a Mepham wrestler and became one of the mainstays on the Mepham teams that won 100 straight matches

Perri never lost a wrestling match in high school, winning every tournament he entered and the Junior and Senior Metropolitan AAU Open championships.

At Syracuse University, he won two EIWA championships and with teammate and best friend Ken Hunte, co-captained the Orange to their first two EICA championships and first undefeated season.

Perri is the founder of the National Wrestling Officials Association and was the organization’s first president. In the early 1950s, Perri, Lonnie Kittle and Chip Sparks founded the Long Island Wrestling Officials Association.

He is also the founder of the National Wrestling Officials Association and served 17 years as president of the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Officials Association. Perri served as supervisor of wrestling officials for the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference for more than 25 years.

Perri is a member of the New York State College Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Eastern Intercollegiate Officials Hall of Fame.