It was during John Lopresti's junior year at Malden High School (1970) that his football coach, Lou Racca, said to him, "If you want to be a better player you must wrestle." During his senior year, Lopresti was a three-sport varsity athlete and captain of both the wrestling and baseball teams. That was the wrestling team's first winning season. Upon graduation in 1972 he was named Malden High School's Male Athlete of the Year.

In college, Lopresti played four years of varsity football and wrestled for four years. During that time he made the All-Conference Football Team and the Boston State Warriors Wrestling program recorded an 18-1 season.

At Boston State College, Lopresti earned degrees in both Biology and Physical Education/Health. After graduation, he began teaching in the Malden Public School District. With this job, he became Head Wrestling Coach for the first time. During his teaching career, he was also Head Varsity Coach for football, track, and tennis.

During his years as a wrestling coach, John Lopresti compiled a 175-60 record, had several State champions, many Sectional champions, and many Tournament place winners. He received the Division I Central Coach of the Year Award, Gold Medal Community Service Award, and Massachusetts Senate Recognition Award for his work in youth wrestling. John Lopresti - along with his wrestlers Matt McCarthy, Dave Russo, Dan Ford, and Dave O'Brien - have received Malden High School Golden Tornado Hall of Fame Inductions. Lopresti was also instrumental in the development of Big East Wrestling, as well as wrestling programs in Danvers, Gloucester, and at Malden Catholic.

After fifteen years of coaching wrestling, Lopresti found time with his family increasingly more demanding and began a new chapter in wrestling as an official. During his twenty years of officiating, he has served in the Division I, II, & III Sectionals; Division I, II, & III State, and All-States. He was also Head Referee of the New England Prep School Tournament. He has served as a mentor for the Massachusetts Interscholastic Wrestling Official Association. He has also volunteered at the Bay State Games as a wrestling official.

He feels his greatest contribution to wrestling was establishing The Team Academic Study Program in 1980, for which his wrestlers were the #1 Male Academic Team at Malden High School.

Over twenty of his wrestlers went on to compete at the college level. In addition, more than thirty of his wrestlers have coached, or are presently coaching varsity, sub-varsity, and youth wrestling programs in Massachusetts.

Lopresti acknowledges that his success in the wrestling world would not be possible if it were not for his coaches, teammates, wrestlers, and friends who supported him: High School Coaches - Mac Daniel Singleton & Phil Gormley; College Coach - Gordon Webb; High School Coaches - Dan, Brian, & John O'Boyle, Dave O'Brien, Bill Burke, Jeff Carroll, Matt McCarthy, & Ken MacIntosh; Big East Coaches - John Eccleston & Ben Talbot; Tournament Directors - The Steve Rubin Family & Dave Smith; Team Managers - Andrea Lopresti, Kimberly (Lopresti) Elivert, & Julann (Lopresti) Casaletto; Team Mom & Wife - Marie Lopresti.

For his lifelong service to Wrestling, John Lopresti is being honored by the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.