John was first introduced to the sport when he went out for the Chenango Valley wrestling team in 1963. He was a two year varsity starter and a Sect. IV place winner as a senior. After High School, John continued his education at Broome Community Junior College while wrestling for Head Coach Duane Whittaker and also was a starter on the wrestling team that was ranked 7th in the country. John qualified for the JUCO Nationals both seasons while at Broome. He earned his Associates degree in Liberal Arts and went on to SUNY Buffalo to continue wrestling and further his education. At Buffalo, John was the starting 158 pounder on a top 15 Div. 1 wrestling team coached by the Hall of Famer (1999) Ed Michael and assistant coach Scott Stever now head coach at RIT. He also was the New York State collegiate runner up at 158 lbs. in 1973. John received his Bachelor's degree in history and a minor in Physical Education. He later received his master's degree from Buffalo State College in Education. In 1974 John began officiating wrestling in Sect. IV. A year later, he also started officiating collegiate wrestling. John began his coaching career as an assistant at Windsor high school in 1979, where he was a substitute teacher. In 1980 he became the head wrestling coach at BCC and coached three national qualifiers and three academic All Americans. BCC ended up dropping the sport a few years later. In 1982 John became an assistant to former collegiate teammate and Hall of Fame coach (2009) Fred Marcello at Maine-Endwell and together helped the Spartans become a Section IV power and a perennial top 20 ranked team in New York State. In 1990 John became head wrestling coach at his alma mater, Chenango Valley, where he coached that schools first Sect. IV champion in 33 years. In 1998 John was an unpaid assistant at Vestal High School under Hall of Fame Coach (2015) Tony Policare, who is the winningest coach in Section IV history. He stayed in that position until 2008. Currently, John is officiating many top D-1 tournaments and is a member in good standing in the EWLOA (PIT) and EIWOA (Lehigh), MSWOA(OHIO), SFWOA(Sect. IV). John also has officiated in the National Collegiate Open in Ohio and the National High School Coaches' Association Dual-Meet Tournament in Virginia Beach. Furthermore, John has officiated wrestling in 6 states and worked in over 130 college tournaments. Altogether, John has coached wrestling for 29 seasons and is currently in his 28th season of officiating. The Upstate Chapter is happy to present John with the 2016 Lifetime Service Award.