Bob Ferraro

Bob Ferraro ’66

Career Record: 54-9, 3x D11 Champ, NE Regional Champ, Medalist

Tournament Championships: Boiling Springs Champ

1966 (Sr.): District Champ, Regional Champ, State Semifinals (22-1)

1965 (Jr.): District Champ (16-4)

1964 (So.): District Champ (16-4)

National Hall of Famer who was Easton’s second three-time D11 champion, first NCAA All American, and NCAA finalist, and longtime head coach at Bucknell before founding the NHSCA.

Cracked the lineup as a sophomore and won by shutout in his first varsity match. Fourth place finisher at the Boiling Springs Invitational before pinning his way through Easton’s January schedule. Won nine of his ten final regular season matches, only dropping a 5-3 decision to Jim Thompson (Phillipsburg). Won his first D11 title with a pair of falls, then a 3-2 win over Chamberlain (Northampton), and a 5-1 title winner over Rocco Simonetta (Bethlehem) as Easton finished second in D11 after a disappointing dual season. Ferraro dropped his Northeast Regional semifinal match to future state champion Harry Weinhofer (Shamokin), 3-0.

As a junior, Ferraro won his first six matches of the season before falling to Weinhofer in the Boiling Springs Invitational finals, 5-1. He rolled into the D11 tournament as the defending champion and top seed and won his second title with a pair of falls and three tight decisions, capped by a 5-0 win over Rich Price (Hellertown). The following weekend, Ferraro fell in the Northeast Regional semifinal to former state champ and eventual state runner-up Bill Welker (Shamokin), 3-2.

As a senior, Ferraro went undefeated through December, including his first Boiling Springs Invitational championship with a 5-2 win over District 3 champ Bob Carmany (Mechanicsburg). He made a major statement with a first period pin of eventual NCAA champion Stan Dziedzic (William Allen) in their first conference dual. Ferraro finished the regular season undefeated. At the D11 tournament, Ferraro dominated the field, with three pins and a 9-0 decision. He put an exclamation point on his final D11 tournament by pinning Dziedzic for the second time. Determined to make his first state tournament, Ferraro pinned his way through the Northeast Regional, sticking future state runner-up Dana Balum (Muncy) in 1:57 to win the title. At the state tournament, Ferraro suffered his first loss of the season in a 4-0 setback to eventual state champion Al Uyeda (Conestoga Valley) in the state semifinals.

Ferraro went on to Indiana State, where he was a two-time All American for Gray Simons, finishing fourth in 1969 and as the NCAA runner-up in 1970. In 1969, the unseeded Ferraro knocked off third seed and Division II champ Carl Ragland (Old Dominiok), 4-1 then pinned his way to NCAA semis before falling to eventual national champ Gobel Kline (Maryland). As a senior, Ferraro came in seeded third, and pinned his way to semifinals, then crushed Bob Tomasovec (Oregon State) 17-2 to become Easton’s first NCAA finalist. He met defending champ Mike Grant (Oklahoma), who beat Dziedzic in semis. Ferraro was unable to stop Grant from repeating in a 6-1 match. He was a three-time NCAA qualifier, though he famously missed the announcement for his first match as a sophomore and had to forfeit out of the tournament. Ferraro was the head coach at Bucknell for 24 seasons, then founded the National High School Coaches Association, and was the USA Wrestling Man of the Year in 2006. He was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2016.