In high school, John Vino excelled in sports, especially football and wrestling. He was inducted into the West Islip Athletic Hall of Fame in 1974.

He continued club wrestling while attending night school and became the 168-pound champion in the New York Metropolitan area.

He won a football scholarship at the University of Bridgeport and earned a bachelor's degree in education. There he founded, coached and captained an undefeated wrestling club. He went on to complete a master's degree at the University of Connecticut.

John built a career around his love of sports: first, coaching football, wrestling, and lacrosse at the University of Connecticut, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Wesleyan University; second, in sporting goods sales, representing Resilite Sports Products for decades.

He was widely respected in the New England region as a tough but fair referee at high school wrestling matches for 40 years. He formed many friendships with coaches and wrestlers alike during this time.

John was also instrumental in creating annual gatherings and service awards for wrestling officials through the Connecticut Interscholastic Wrestling Officials Association (CIWOA).