Harry Lake is considered the Father of Wrestling in New Jersey. Although Harry never wrestled or coached wrestling, he caught the wrestling fever while watching wrestling practice in the Elizabeth YMCA in the late 1920s. At that time Elizabeth had the first organized wrestling team in the state and was coached by Bill Cann, a 1928 Olympic coach. Lake learned wrestling by watching Bill Cann coach. From the moment he saw wrestling he was smitten by the sport. For the next 30 years he contributed more to wrestling than anyone else has then or since.

Harry organized the first wrestling program at Union High School in 1930. Almost immediately he began to explore the possibility of providing a state wrestling tournament. In 1934 he organized and directed the first New Jersey State Tournament which was held at Union High School. He financed the first tournament with less than forty dollars, paying the two referees ten dollars each and spending seventeen dollars for medals. With no budget, he had to commandeer many volunteers.

Harry directed and somehow financed the State Tournament for the next five years at Union High School, until the State agreed to take it over in 1939 at which time Harry was installed as the Tournament Director, a position he held until his untimely death in 1959. With wrestling in its infancy, Harry Lake, respected by all, served as the first Chairman of the New Jersey Wrestling Committee, a position he held for some twenty years. To facilitate the growth of wrestling, Harry initiated the first New Jersey Wrestling Coaches and Officials Organization which has grown from some forty members to 600 members in two separate organizations.

For a substantial period of time, when wrestling was in its infancy, Harry Lake simultaneously served as chairman of the wrestling committee, president of the wrestling coaches and officials association, and state tournament director. These are three important and demanding positions that required vision, energy, and skill in working with people to advance wrestling. He handled all three with aplomb, promoting the sport of wrestling and simultaneously earning the respect of a growing wrestling community.

In 1943 Lake initiated the Don Ringler Award which is presented to the outstanding wrestler in the tournament. Ringler was a popular and successful high school coach who was killed in action in the Second World War. This trophy, a highlight of the tournament, has been presented for sixty-three years. Aware of the need to give all wrestlers an opportunity to participate in tournament competition, he started the Union County Junior Varsity Tournament for those wrestlers who could not qualify for the varsity. This tournament, started in 1948, is still functioning today.

To honor the memory of the man most responsible for promoting wrestling in New Jersey, NJSIAA in 1962 created the Harry E. Lake Award for outstanding contributions to New Jersey scholastic wrestling. It is awarded annually at the State Tournament and is considered the most prestigious honor in the sport of wrestling befitting the man who was a model of unselfishness in his commitment to wrestling. No fewer than 21 of New Jersey Wrestling Hall of Fame recipients have been awarded the Harry E. Lake Award as emblematic of significant contributions to wrestling.