Pat Pecora- Great Father, Great Husband, Great Friend, Great Wrestling Coach and Great Ambassador of Wrestling in Pennsylvania…has been called to Heaven
Pat Pecora, the Athletic Director (since 2008) and Head Wrestling Coach at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown for the last 48 years passed away on 9/8/2024. I believe God needed his leadership in Heaven. I had the privilege to be able to call him a friend. Pat epitomized leadership and would have made a superb general in the military.
I had the opportunity to work his wrestling camps for nearly 10 years each summer, and competed against him while coaching at St. Andrews University. Many of us who worked his camps were able to bring our sons to camp and witness a great leader at work. Pat was inspired by the song “My Way” by Frank Sinatra, and Pat certainly did it his way. And boy did his system work? He earned more wins than any other coach in college wrestling history (661-154-5) at any level! An amazing record to go along with his two NCAA Team Championships in 1996 and 1999. He produced 170 All-Americans, 15 individual NCAA champions who combined for 23 titles. Coach Pecora also won 25 NCAA Regional titles and had a streak of eight consecutive Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships. Pecora was 70 years old.
Former wrestler Isaac Greeley, who was on both of Pecor’s NCAA Div. II National Championship Teams, told Mike Mastovich of The Tribune Democrat “It’s hard to articulate when someone basically dedicates their life to helping others.” “The remarkable thing about coach is once he considered you a ‘made man,’ he was with you for life.” “He held on to your rope and helped you as a man. He made it easy to talk to him. He always said the right things. His wisdom was really special. He taught us how to live. He showed us how to die, how to fight. He loved us all.”
Shane Valko, a Forest Hills High School graduate who won a national title under Pecora in 2010 and was named Wrestler of the Year, told Mastovich of the Tribune “he was the closest thing to Superman for me. There are two people in my life that I consider on the heels of Superman-Coach Pecora and my father. He has been a person in my life I could turn to when I needed life advice. He’s a person I wish I can be.” Valko, was an assistant at Pitt-Johnstown from 2010 to 1018 and recently rejoined the staff.
Coach Pecora also is the only coach to produce a 6x NCAA Champion in Carlton Haselrig who won three titles in Div. II and three in Div. I. Haselrig went on to become a starting lineman for the Pittsburgh Steelers and make the Pro Bowl.
UPJ President Jem Spectar said “the school was mourning a great coach, teacher, colleague-a titan of a man and a champion of Olympic proportions. We extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends and loved ones. Spectar added, “Coach P guided, shaped and transformed the lives of legions of UPJ athletes, turning boys into successful men, advising and guiding students to become successful, impactful citizens and leaders in all walks of life across the country.” “We were honored to have this extraordinarily great man as part of our community for nearly five decades, and our campus, community and world are better because of Pat Pecora.”
Thank you Mrs. Tracy Percora for sharing your husband with the wrestling fraternity and may God Bless you and your Family. As Pat would often say-Stay Strong
Joe Baranik
September 10, 2024
First Week of College Football Saw 23 Schools with Wrestling defeat non-Wrestling Schools:
Ohio State over Akron
Michigan over Fresno State
Iowa over Illinois State
Wisconsin over Western Michigan
Rutgers over Howard
Michigan St. over Florida Atlantic
Purdue over Indiana St.
Maryland over U. of Connecticut
Indiana over Florida International U.
Northwestern over Miami, Ohio
Nebraska over UTEP
Buffalo over Lafayette
Oklahoma over Temple
Iowa St. over North Dakota
Duke over Elon
NC State over Western Carolina
Virginia over Richmond
Missouri over Murray State
Air Force over Merrimack
Appalachian State over ETSU
Oregon State over Idaho State
Northern Illinois over Western Illinois
Illinois over Eastern Illinois
Central Michigan over Cent. Conn. State
*The starting QB for Vanderbilt, Diego Pavia, who led the Commodores to victory over Virginia Tech, wrestled in high school which was mentioned on TV.
*Luke Fickell, the head football coach at Wisconsin, started the year 1-0. Fickell was a 3x Ohio State champion in wrestling and wrestled a bit at Ohio State where he was a stand-out football player.
Baranik’s Back Points
Summer Trivia 2024
- USA! USA! USA!
Women: Sarah Hildebrandt (50kg), Dominique Parish (53kg), Helen Maroulis (57kg), Kayla Miracle (62kg), Amit Elor (68kg), Kennedy Blades (76kg).
Men: Spencer Lee (57kg), Zain Retherford (65kg), Kyle Dake (74kg), Aaron Brooks (86kg), Kyle Snyder (97kg), Mason Paris (125kg).
Representing Other Countries: Darian Cruz (Puerto Rico), Roman Bravo-Young (Mexico), Myles Amine (San Marino).
Greco-Roman: Kamal Bey (77kg), Payton Jacobson (87kg), Joe Rau (97kg), Adam Coon (130 kg).
- Only Iowa and Cornell have finished in the top 10 at the NCAAs since 2008.
- Mitchell Mesenbrink (165) of Penn State was named Amateur Wrestling News Rookie of the Year. He is the fourth PSU Wrestler to win the award. Past winners include Jeremy Hunter (1997), David Taylor (2011), Jason Nolf (2016) and Levi Haines (2023).
- From Jim Kalin, (Managing Editor) of Amateur Wrestling News: Not a single rookie won an NCAA or NAIA national title this year. That includes Div. I-II or III. Two freshmen did make the finals in Mitchell Mesenbrink of Penn State, and Rocco Welsh of Ohio State.
- AWN All-Rookie Team:
- 125-Luke Stanich (Lehigh), 133-Ryan Crookham (Lehigh), 141-Sergio Lemley (Michigan),
- 149-Tyler Kasak (Penn State), 157-Meyer Shapiro (Cornell), 165- Mesenbrink (Penn State), 174-Rocco Welsh (Ohio State), 184-Bennett Berge (South Dakota State), 197-Stephen Little (Little Rock Arkansas), 285-Nick Feldman (Ohio State)
*held in Altoona, PA in July
Ken Chertow Super Gold Medal Training Camp
Ken Chertow has been studying the fine details of the sport of wrestling for nearly 40 years and it shows. His camp uncovers a wide range of technique in both freestyle and folkstyle wrestling. For 16 days in Altoona, PA, he demonstrated why it is a five star camp. Over 500 girls and boys of all ages attended for the entire camp or four to six day segments. 100 girls were in attendance which was a record for Chertow’s Camp. These future champions came from over 30 states and five countries! Chertow, himself, a 2x All-American out of Penn State and a 1988 Olympian, was joined by numerous NCAA champions. Some of the champions included Patrick Glory of Princeton (who now works on Wall Street), Nino Bonaccorsi of Pitt, 3x NCAA champion Ricky Bonomo of Bloomsburg and former PSU head coach and NCAA champion John Fritz. Also included were many All-Americans and successful high school coaches throughout the country. A staff of 40 people, made it great for each camper to get individual attention.
In addition, the camp was a huge boost for the economy in Blair County and Central Pennsylvania. Coach Chertow bought over 1500 hotel rooms in the area and provided airport shuttles at three local airports. If you include the food, housing for campers and parents, gasoline, and laundry services for 500 kids and some of their families, it definitely was a big bonus for businesses in Central PA.
John Fritz with Ken Chertow above
All-American Patrick Glory of Princeton below
*Nino Bonaccorsi, 2023 national champ of Pitt, helped work the Chertow camp as an instructor this summer, pictured above
*Aaron Brooks (197 lb national champ) is Penn State’s Male Athlete of the Year. (Last year, it was Carter Starocci)
*It was recently announced that Carter Starocci and Greg Kerkvleit will both return for their final season of eligibility. Starocci will attempt to become the first 5x NCAA champion (he gained an extra year from Covid) but this time up at 197 lbs. while Kerkvliet will try to win his second NCAA title. That means, the Lions will return 8 of 10 of their starting lineup from last year minus Bernie Truax and Brooks.
*Hayden Hidlay (Mifflin County HS) of NC State, is the new assistant coach at Stanford. Hidlay was a 4x ACC Champion and 5x All-American placing (2nd, 4th, 5th, 3rd, & 2nd) at the NCAAs. He was also named ACC Scholar Athlete of the Year. This was the second time he has won the award.
*Nick Lee, a 4x All-American at Penn State and a 2x NCAA champ is now on the staff at his alma mater as an assistant coach. Lee, who lost in the Olympic Trial finals to Zain Retherford, will take Jimmy Kennedy’s place, who went to Oklahoma State to join David Taylor’s staff.
- David Taylor also added former Lion NCAA qualifier and teammate Bryan Pearsall to his staff at Oklahoma State as a recruiting coordinator. Pearsall spent the past seven years at the University of Penn as the associate Head Coach.
- Mark Hall was a 3x Big 10 champion and freshman NCAA champion for Penn State in 2017, as well as a 2x NCAA runner-up, spent the last three years at U of Penn in charge of their Regional Training Center has been added to the University of Oklahoma staff as Director of Operations.
- Eight wrestlers with ties to Penn State have earned coaching jobs in the last month. Taylor, a 4x NCAA finalist and 2x champion, a 3x World champ and an Olympic Gold Medalist, became the head coach at Oklahoma St. along with Kennedy, a former assistant at PSU and Thomas Gilman, who trained with the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club. Finally, Vincenzo Joseph, a 3x NCAA finalist and 2x champion has been hired on the staff at the University of North Carolina. Their head coach, Rob Koll, is a PIAA State Champ from State College, and his father was the Head Coach at Penn State for 13 years.
*Jason Nolf, a former 3x NCAA champion from Penn State took out 6x World Champ and 2012 Olympic Gold medalist Jordan Burroughs by a score of 3-0 to reach the finals of the Olympic Trials at 74 kg vs. Kyle Dake. Dake, however, beat Nolf twice to make the US Olympic Team. Dake was a 4x NCAA champion at Cornell, winning at 4 different weight classes.
Crowd from the Olympic Team Trials at the BJC
Nearly 16,000 fans watched the Olympic Trials at Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center. It was the first time the trials were held at Penn State.
*In the featured bout in the Olympic Trials at the BJC, 4x NCAA champion Aaron Brooks defeated Olympic Gold medalist David Taylor 4-1 and 3-1. The two time Hodge Trophy winners put on a show, but
Brooks was sharper as he won two straight bouts against the former 4x NCAA finalist “Magic Man”. Brooks, who became the 7th person to win 4 NCAA titles and the Hodge Trophy last month, is the first American to beat Taylor since 2017!
•Penn State had 16 current, former or future wrestlers entered in the Olympic Trials. Soon the area will be called “Wrestling Valley” in place of Happy Valley!
*PSU’s Roman Bravo-Young (133) has made the Olympic Team for Mexico at 57 kg. Penn State will now have Retherford, Brooks and RBY as alumni in the Paris Olympics.
*Cam Amine (165), a 3x All-American at Michigan is transferring to Oklahoma State for his last year of competition in 2024-25.
*Mason Parris, the 2023 NCAA champion at 285 and the Hodge Trophy Winner told NBC, “It feels like destiny, I am 24 years old and it’s the 2024 Olympics, and it’s Parris in Paris!”