John Zabatta got the wrestling bug in 1954. As a 7th grader he was herded into the famed VSC wrestling room by Hall of Fame Coach Harold Earl. Since that time, wrestling has always been a big part of his life. John was a well-rounded athlete. In 1961, he was an All-County Football player and captain of his team. He was on both Valley Stream Centrals’ Nassau County Wrestling Championship teams in 1960 and 1961 and captain of the 1961 team. As a wrestler for Central High he was a 3 time league finalist 1 time champ. In 1960 he was runner up in the Nassau County Championship and in 1961 he was undefeated 19-0 and was the 158 Nassau County Champion. He earned a scholarship to Penn State University and wrestled for 3 years under Hall of Fame coach Charlie “Doc” Speidel.

He entered the Army in 1966 and served two years a physical therapist technician and coached the Ft. Same Houston Freestyle team in the All Army meet in El Paso, Texas 1967. After the Army, he started coaching at VS South HS with Hall of Fame coach Bill Linkner. In the 10 years with Bill they won all 10 league championships without a loss. John then coached VS Memorial Jr. HS, with Hall of Fame Coach Nick Nannos then VS North Jr HS with Hall of Fame Coach Tom Maddock. He then went back again to VS South Jr. Hs. In 1991, Bill stepped down and John took over as head coach. After two years and two more league championships, he had to step down due to lung disease at the age of 49. In 1993 he won the Ted Peterson award as Nassau County Coach of the year.

After his retirement, John became involved with Friends of Long Island Wrestling as a member of the Board of Directors and the membership chairman. He also worked on the golf committee, phone-a-thon and other committees. John worked with Tom Ryan at Hofstra to promote wrestling and raise support funds.

In 1977, with his son Danny coming of age 5, he started the Valley Stream Youth program then called “Kiddie Wrestling.” When he moved to Florida in 2004, for health reasons, he jumped right in with the Buffalo Wrestling Club youth program. He is still a USA card member and club president.

John has always been involved with running tournaments. He ran many league, qualifying, and Christmas events. He also scored and ran the clock for many events and worked the head table at the Section VIII Tournament. He was the first to put the Section VIII wrestling tournament brackets on the computer. He is still doing the same work in Florida. Coach Z did a great deal for the wrestling in all three Valley Stream schools, but his lasting legacy will be the wrestlers who enjoyed the sport of wrestling. He was always able to get the most out of his athletes by believing in them. He built the confidence in wrestlers who were unsure of themselves. He was able to make them feel they could do and they did.