James (Jim) Smoot is being inducted as an official. Jim started his officiating career in St. Petersburg, FL in 1989. Jim has been an FSHAA Registered official since 1989. He began refereeing with USA Wrestling in 2012. Jim has refereed 25 FSHAA District Tournaments, 23 Regional Tournaments and 11 State finals. He also has done 5 Super 32 Qualifiers. Since Jim joined USA Wrestling, he has refereed 6 State tournaments, 3 SE Regional Qualifiers, and 1 Kids National Tournament. Jim was named New Official of the Year in 2013. Jim especially enjoys officiating matches for the youngest wrestlers, and has refereed countless club wrestling tournaments. Jim sees this as the future of the sport, as he has seen young beginning wrestlers become champions in high school and college. Jim is a graduate of Northeast High School where he wrestled Varsity for three years. He credits his original love of wrestling to his older sister, Debbie, whose friends were on the wrestling team in high school and introduced him to the sport. Jim is married to Rose, his wife of 26 years, and is the proud father of four children, Megan, Evan, Justin, and Cassie, along with being the proud grandparent of Jaxon and Mason.