Tony Caravella
Tony built his wrestling career in Brick Township. He was the first wrestling coach at Brick Memorial High, where he coached and taught for 32 years, and he graduated from Brick Township High School In 22 years he coached the Mustangs to 317 victories, including a pair of seasons when they finished No. 1 in the state (1986 and 1994). His teams won 19 district titles, 12 Shore Conference titles (including 10 straight), 10 South Jersey sectionals, five Group 3 titles and in 1993 won Beast of the East. He added one other Shore Conference championship as an assistant coach at St. John Vianney in 2018, where he is currently an administrator. At Memorial he turned out 120 individual district champs, 44 regional champs, 42 state medalists and four state champions. His high school career at Brick Township resulted in a district and regional championship, and a fourth place finish in the states. From there he went on to Bloomsburg State College. A 1980 graduate, Tony finished with a record of 112-28-2, was a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference champion, a three-time Division I qualifier and in 1980 was All-America with a seventh place finish at Nationals. This will be his seventh Hall of Fame membership. He is also in Brick Township's High School HOF, Memorial's, Region 6, Bloomsburg State, South Jersey's and the Eastern Wrestling League. He is also a member of the National Wrestling Coaches Association and the USWA. In 2018 he was awarded the Harry E. Lake award for outstanding contributions to New Jersey wrestling. The Star-Ledger named him Coach of the Decade for the 1990s. In addition to wrestling, Tony also coached football, gymnastics, cross country and track and field. He was also Director of Athletics at Brick Township High from 2003-05. Tony lives in Brielle with his wife Doreen. They have three children.
Awards:
Year
2019
|
Award
Lifetime Service to Wrestling
|
Chapter/Region
New Jersey
|
All American Awards:
Season
1980
|
School
Bloomsburg
|
Tournament
Division I
|
Weight
150
|
Place
8
|
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