John Scesa started his wrestling career at Goshen High School in Section IX. While at Goshen, John received the Gene Gawley Award for dedication to excellence in wrestling and was also the OCIAA League Champion. John journeyed to Cortland State to complete his career in competitive wrestling. At Cortland John wrestled for Coach Gene Nighman and credits him for developing him into an outstanding wrestler. At Cortland he was presented with the “Cortland Red Dragon - Red Letter Award” as the outstanding wrestler for the team. In 1984 Scesa became an All-American at the NCAA Division III tournament that was held at Binghamton University. Additionally, wrestling at Cortland John would finish as a runner-up in the very strong SUNYAC wrestling conference.

After Cortland State, John became the varsity coach at Pine Bush High School for 11 years. Coach Scesa had a very distinguished coaching tenure at Pine Bush. At Pine Bush he developed one of the most prominent wrestlers in the history of the New York State Championships, Troy Bouzakis. Troy won three state championships (1986, 87 and 1990) and was the first 8th grader to win a NYSPHSAA championship. Moreover, Bouzakis was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler” twice in the championships. Presently, Bouzakis has a son wrestling and ranked nationally for Tom Ryan at Ohio State. Furthermore, Coach Scesa has coached wrestlers who have finished 2nd, 3rd and 6th in the state championships. In addition to coaching wrestling Scesa has coached football for 12 years at Pine Bush on the junior high, junior varsity and varsity levels. He has also served as a strength coach, endurance coach and a sport specific coach on those levels in football.

In 1999 John joined the ranks of high school wrestling officials in the Mid-Hudson Wrestling Officials Association. John’s talents were quickly recognized and he progressed to be one of the best officials in New York. He was a member of three associations – Mid-Hudson W.O.A., Westchester-Putnam W.O.A. and the Rockland Officials Chapter. During his tenure at Mid-Hudson he was selected as the rules interpreter for four years and helped to mentor young officials in all the associations. Scesa has worked the NYSPHSAA Championships eight times and was rated the number one official five times and the number two official on two occasions. To add to the above honors, John was voted Section IX “Referee of the Year” seven times. Moreover, during his career John was selected as the number one official in Section IX eleven times and Section One ten times. John has also been an evaluator, table worker and Sargent of Arms at the NYSPHSAA championships. Demonstrating his willingness to promote wrestling in any manner possible. Hall of Fame coach Don Blaine stated this about John, “he follows the rules to the letter, he is fair, extremely knowledgeable, and is clearly respected throughout the state. I believe strongly that John Scesa embodies all the qualities that the Upstate New Chapter is looking for.”

Furthermore, John has been an excellent football official for 17 years and was rated as the number one Line Judge in the Central Hudson Valley Football Officials Association six times. He has been selected to officiate four football state championship games.

Fellow official and Hall of Fame member, Wayne Carroll, paid Scesa the highest respect by declaring, “when John is officiating it doesn’t matter what kind of match it is. He will always give you 100%. It could be a match between two wrestlers who are wrestling for the first time, he would officiate it as if it was a state championship match.” Carroll finished his praise for John by stating, “John Scesa epitomizes greatness in all respects.” What an accolade for one of the best officials in the history of the state. It is the honor and privilege of the Upstate New York Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame to recognize the excellence and commitment that John Scesa has demonstrated throughout his esteemed career as a wrestler, coach and official.