Jack Romagnoli's motivation to try out for his junior high school wrestling team was prompted by a hallway incident in the eighth grade. The class bully figured that Jack, weighing in at seventy-eight pounds soaking wet, would be an easy target for a laugh. The bully shoved Jack from behind, ripping Romagnoli's shirt in the process. But bully boy did not anticipate that the skinny little kid would turn on his heels, slug him in the mouth and knock out one of his teeth. The altercation, of course, landed both boys in the office of a vice principal with a reputation for disciplining the unruly with a wooden paddle. Quaking in his PF Flyers when he arrived in the office, Jack was surprised to be met with a handshake and a smile from a man whocongratulated him on standing up to the perp. He gave Romagnoli three ceremonial whacks with the paddle and assured Jack there would be no detention if Jack agreed to forgo pugilism on school grounds and join the wrestling team.

Romagnoli made the junior high team and went on to wrestle varsity at Canastota High for four years. It was the era of one division when Section 3 was a dominant state power with eighty schools fielding wrestling teams. Jack won the league title and placed in the Section 3 tourney twice. He was recruited by Coach John Clark and selected St. Lawrence University to continue his education, where he was a four-year starter for the Saints.

Upon graduation in 1977, Romagnoli returned to Canastota to begin his career. (He also went on to obtain an MBA from Syracuse University.) But he could not stay away from the mat for long and began coaching, first as an assistant coach at Cazenovia High in 1977, then as a modified coach at Canastota in 1981. Jack moved on to the co-head position at Canastota High in 1982, staying through 1988. His Red Raider teams won two Section 3 team championships, and produced three state place-winners, seven sectional champs and a New York State champion.

After getting married and starting a family, Jack returned to coaching youth wrestling programs at Jamesviile-Dewitt, Fayetteville-Manlius and Cazenovia from 2004-2007. In 2D08, he was instrumental in resurrecting the previously discontinued Jamesville-Dewitt and Christian Brothers Academy wrestling programs, and he served as an assistant coach from 2008-2012. Romagnoli began serving on the Friends of Section 3 booster club in 2007, where he continues to serve to this day. Romagnoli was voted into the Section 3 Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.

In 1989, Jack co-founded CCI Companies, Inc., a major highway and bridge construction company, along with Abscope Environmental, Inc., an environmental remediation company. Since their creation, these two enterprises jointly have produced approximately one billion dollars of heavy infrastructure, environmental remediation and engineering and disaster response throughout the United States. Notably, the two companies collectively employ over two hundred people, including many former Central New York high school wrestlers.

Romagnoli has served on the Madison County IDA and CRC Boards and the Jamesville-Dewitt Youth Athletic Association Board. He has also volunteered with the Utica Chapter of the Big Brothers Big Sisters Program and provided significant financial support to various charity organizations.

Jack has been married to his wife MaryBeth for thirty years. An accomplished athlete in her own right, MaryBeth qualified and competed in the 2011 Ironraan Championship in Kona, Hawaii. She currently owns and operates Windridge Estate, a successful wedding venue located in Cazenovia. Jack and MaryBeth have two sons, J.T. (a three-time Section 3 champ for JD/CBA) and Andrew, both of whom received lacrosse scholarships to play for the University of Delaware.

In 1985 Romagnoli was thrilled to have the honor of driving fellow pugilist Muhammad Ali from the Syracuse Airport to Canastota for Ali's induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

The Upstate New York Chapter of the NWHOF is pleased and honored to present Jack Romagnoli with our Outstanding American Award for all he has done to promote and advocate for wrestling on all levels.