Jerry Seckler has been involved with wrestling virtually his entire life, as a wrestler, coach and contributor to the sport he loves so much.

Starting as an eighth grader, he finished second in the Nassau County South Shore Championships.

As a freshman wrestling for Valley Stream Central High School, he was undefeated in dual meets while winning the South Shore Championships and placed second in the Long Island Championships.

As a sophomore he repeated as South Shore champion and placed fifth in the National AAU Championships.

In his junior year, he was South Shore and Long Island champion and added the Senior Meet title.

His scholastic career was capped off by a national prep school championship and being named the nation’s outstanding prep school wrestler.

Jerry went on to wrestle at Penn State University and went undefeated in dual meets as a junior while also being a co-captain of Penn State’s EIWA championship team.

He began his coaching career in the Freeport school system in 1962, working with both the junior varsity and varsity programs.

In 1966 he became freshman coach at Columbia University and then was the head coach from 1967 to 1973.

Jerry served as president of the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association in 1972-73.

Jerry began his coaching career in the Freeport system in 1962 working with bot the JV and Varsity programs. In 1966 he was freshman coach at Columbia University. From 1967 to 1973 he was head coach of the Columbia Varsity and in 1972-1973 was President of the.

He always remained interested and committed to Long Island wrestling and he instituted the youth wrestling program for the town of Hempstead and created the Town Hempstead Summer Wrestling Tournament in 1968.

Over the years he also served as the director for the inter-collegiate double dual meet at Nassau Coliseum and two USA vs Russia meets.

His latest contribution to Long Island wrestling has been the development of the Friends of Long Island Wrestling, an organization that was formed through his efforts.

As chairman of the organization, Jerry has been instrumental in initiating and actively participating in all of the activities of the group. Including the Hall of Fame reunion dinners, the “Stop DWI” program, summer wrestling tournaments, and the county high school championships. These include the Hall of Fame/Reunion Dinners, the “Stop DWI” and Summer Wrestling Tournaments and County High School Championships.