Outstanding American from Florida In 1967 through the encouragement of Don and Dottie Curtis, Father Devine began what as to become a long association with wrestling in the State of Florida. Previous to his arrival in Florida he was head wrestling coach at Summerhill High School in Sligo, Ireland, where his teams won three national titles. He was coach of the Irish National team and the World Cadet Championships in Lima, Peru in 1974. In 1974 Monsignor Devine organized the first Florida International Exchange when a Florida team visited Ireland, England and Scotland. He served as the Director of Florida’s International Exchange Program for over twenty years. He served as a delegate for Ireland at the FILA Congress during the 1996 Olympics and recently received the “Harriette Weller Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Florida Amateur Wrestling Association. Father also has the distinction of being the longest serving mat official in Florida having just completed his 35th year. Monsignor Devine was founding pastor of St. James Church, Port Richey and during his time there, the congregation grew to seven thousand members and he was instrumental in building a church and school. In 1995 he founded the Florida Rainbow Company, where the objective of this organization is to bring Protestant and Catholic families from violence torn Northern Ireland to live together for two weeks in Florida - each family having a child with a life-threatening disease. So far this organization has raised $60,000 and has been able to bring eight families to Florida. For his dedication and lasting influence on wrestling, Monsignor Michael Devine is presented the National Wrestling Hall of Fame’s “Outstanding American from the State of Florida” award for the class of 2001.