Frank A. Popolizio conceived “Journeymen Wrestling” in 1999, after experiencing the excitement and atmosphere at Gallagher-Iba Arena while watching his younger brother Pat wrestle in a home dual for Oklahoma State University. He returned home to Schenectady, New York, with the desire to bring that level of college wrestling to upstate New York while also promoting, teaching, advocating and showcasing amateur wrestling to New York’s Capital Region.

Popolizio convinced Division I coaches to bring their teams to Albany, New York for the Northeast Duals, a Thanksgiving weekend dual meet tournament. Through his passion and hard work the tournament has become a premier early-season event for top DI programs.

In 2004, Journeymen Wrestling launched a wrestling club for middle and high school athletes and later added a pee wee program. Frank also began hosting clinics and camps featuring Terry Brands, Tom Brands, Dan Gable, J Robinson, John Smith, Cael Sanderson and Jordan Burroughs.

Frank partnered with FloWrestling and Rokfin to further advance the visibility of wrestling through nationally-recognized tournaments, including the Journeymen/RUDIS Fall Classic in Lancaster, Pennsylvania; the Pop & Flo National Duals in Lake Placid, New York; the Collegiate Wrestling Duals in New Orleans; the Journeymen/Defense Soap Collegiate Classic; and WrangleMania in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania.

In 2018, he established the Journeymen/Adidas World Classic, currently the only Cadet/Junior international tournament held in the United States. The event has included many of the world’s wrestling powers, including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia and Uzbekistan. He has represented Team USA at the Cadet World Championships as team leader and coach for three straight years. He was the architect for Tussle of the Troops, a dual between Oklahoma State and North Carolina State on the United States Naval Support Base in Naples, Italy and the first NCAA Division I wrestling match held outside of North America.

While creating and running Journeymen Wrestling, Frank has served and continues to work as an assistant coach at Shenendehowa High School. He was named the New York State Assistant Coach of the Year in 2008-09 while the team has captured four state team titles.

For his indefatigable promotion of and incredible contributions to the sport of wrestling, Frank Popolizio is the 2023 recipient of the Order of Merit presented by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.