Roselle Park Grapplers
The Roselle Park Grapplers wrestling team was organized by Santo Paterno after World War II and the team was mostly composed of Roselle Park High School graduates. The team was founded in the 1945-1946 wrestling season. Mr. Williams served as the team advisor and honorary coach and the business manager was Nunzio Perrotti. Our home meets were held in what is now the RP Junior High School and the Robert Gordon School auditorium. Finding a place to practice was a problem. The Elizabeth YMCA would not allow us to practice in their facility because they also had a wrestling team. We could not use the former High School for practice because of school events which were held in the gym and the wrestling team practiced in the cafeteria. Most of our practices were held in the Robert Gordon School auditorium. Eventually, we shifted our practices to the Westfield YMCA and worked out in a small weight room which contained several horse hair canvas mats.
The Grapplers challenged both collegiate and amateur wrestling teams in both NJ and NY. No colleges accepted our challenge at the varsity level and only Princeton accepted our challenge at the JV level. I do not remember the score, but every Grappler won their match.
The Grapplers wrestled all of the YMCA'S in NYC, The Elizabeth YMCA, The Newton Boy's Club, The Washington Boys Club, Dover Wrestling Club, and The Long Island Grapplers from Mepham, Long Island. The Grapplers wrestled home and away matches with all opponents except for the NY YMCA teams. The NY YMCA teams would not travel.
I do not remember anyone defeating the Grapplers except the Long Island Team. We split the home and home series with them.
The Grapplers always ended the season by entering all team members in the NJ State AAU wrestling tournament. This tournament was open to anyone that paid a dollar to join the AAU. The field was composed of High School, Club, College Varsity, College JV and Individual wrestlers. Roselle Park, Newton, Washington, Dover, The Elizabeth Y and Rutgers usually entered several wrestlers in each weight class. The tournament was usually held in the Elizabeth YMCA, but it was also held in the old Newton High School at least once. The Newton gym was small and only had room for one mat. The Newton AAU tournament went on forever. (I remember wrestling at 2:00 am up there.)
Over the years, the Roselle Park Grapplers had several consistent AAU State Champions and 2nd and 3rd place winners. The first place winners shown in the photograph are Joe Colicellio, Bob Venturo, Santo Paterno, Bob Newman, Andy Fortunato, John Peters, and Fred Klett. Other State Champions that wrestled for the Grapplers were Al and Norman Buick, Calvin Wacker, George Fedelis, all from Roselle Park, and Jerry Sachsel of Springfield.
The Grapplers challenged both collegiate and amateur wrestling teams in both NJ and NY. No colleges accepted our challenge at the varsity level and only Princeton accepted our challenge at the JV level. I do not remember the score, but every Grappler won their match.
The Grapplers wrestled all of the YMCA'S in NYC, The Elizabeth YMCA, The Newton Boy's Club, The Washington Boys Club, Dover Wrestling Club, and The Long Island Grapplers from Mepham, Long Island. The Grapplers wrestled home and away matches with all opponents except for the NY YMCA teams. The NY YMCA teams would not travel.
I do not remember anyone defeating the Grapplers except the Long Island Team. We split the home and home series with them.
The Grapplers always ended the season by entering all team members in the NJ State AAU wrestling tournament. This tournament was open to anyone that paid a dollar to join the AAU. The field was composed of High School, Club, College Varsity, College JV and Individual wrestlers. Roselle Park, Newton, Washington, Dover, The Elizabeth Y and Rutgers usually entered several wrestlers in each weight class. The tournament was usually held in the Elizabeth YMCA, but it was also held in the old Newton High School at least once. The Newton gym was small and only had room for one mat. The Newton AAU tournament went on forever. (I remember wrestling at 2:00 am up there.)
Over the years, the Roselle Park Grapplers had several consistent AAU State Champions and 2nd and 3rd place winners. The first place winners shown in the photograph are Joe Colicellio, Bob Venturo, Santo Paterno, Bob Newman, Andy Fortunato, John Peters, and Fred Klett. Other State Champions that wrestled for the Grapplers were Al and Norman Buick, Calvin Wacker, George Fedelis, all from Roselle Park, and Jerry Sachsel of Springfield.
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At the far left in the picture is Mr. T. Ralph Williams. At the far right is Nunzio Perrotti. In the back row starting at the left is Bob Nagel, Bob Swanson, Tom Zelinski, Jack Adriance, Cliff Kohler, unknown friend of Santo's, Fred Klett and John DeHoff. Bottom row from the left is Bill Boffa, Joe Colicellio, Bob Venturo, Santo Paterno, Bob Newman, another friend of Santo's, Andy Fortunato, John Peters and Don Schneider. Not shown are Fred Christ (union), Jerry Sachsel (Springfield), Calvin Wacker, Ed Noe, Rupert Roth, George Fidelis, Frank Chimento, Al Buick and Norm Buick, all of Roselle Park.
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