This will be Vince's 37th season as a wrestling official. As you can imagine, that's a lot of time to build a resume. And boy has he. After successful wrestling careers at Bloomfield High School and Montclair State, Vince got right into the coaching business when he helped out with the West Essex Junior wrestling team in 1978. While assisting at the high school from '82 to '85 (with a sectional title in '83), he put on the striped shirt in 1982. He officiated state sectionals and districts from 1986-2009, regionals from 1989-2009, and 12 state championships between 1989 and 2009. He refereed group finals 15 years and did eight different county tournaments. Among his favorite dual meets he officiated, and one he did several times, was the Phillipsburg-Paulsboro showdowns. In 2009, Vince became involved as a NJSIAA assigner, focusing on seven schools. He also refereed high school nationals for 10 years. He has been the New Jersey Wrestling Officials Association treasurer for the past 10 years. Vince also took things into his own hands, starting the Rutgers officials/coaches clinic in 2012. He created the New Jersey Wrestling evaluation process for officials, and started the Blair Academy duels for the evaluation of officials. As for awards, there have been numerous, including the inaugural Vince Russo Golden Whistle Award in 2013. In 2016 he was named Wrestling USA Official of the Year, was honored in 2014 with the NFHS Citation Award presented by the NJSIAA, and a year ago was given the Morris County Athletic Directors Dedication Award. In 2016, Vince was named National Wrestling Official of the Year by Wrestling USA Magazine. Born in Newark, Vince now resides in Cedar Grove with his wife Lorraine. They have three grown children.