July 9, 2024 • 31 mins
The tribute speeches and induction ceremony for 2024 National Wrestling Hall of Fame Meritorious Service for Officials recipient J.R. Johnson.
Tribute speakers: Jeff Pultz & Dr. Mike McCormick. Tribune emcee: Dave Martin. Induction ceremony emcee: Sandy Stevens.
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Recorded June 2024.
Tribute speakers: Jeff Pultz & Dr. Mike McCormick. Tribune emcee: Dave Martin. Induction ceremony emcee: Sandy Stevens.
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Apple Podcasts | Spreaker | iHeartRadio | Spotify | Android | RSS
Contribute
And if you're a fan of the extensive and broad-based reach of the shows on the Mat Talk Podcast Network, become a contributor today.. There are various levels of perks for the different levels of patronage. If you like wrestling content — scratch that — if you LOVE great wrestling content, consider becoming a contributor. How much you give is solely up to how much you believe it's worth to you.
Recorded June 2024.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
From the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. This is Legends. Is Legends.
I'm Jason Bryant. Prepare for ajourney through wrestling's past, present, and
future. As we'll hear are thegreat stories of wrestling and success from the
true legends of the sport here onHall of Fame Legends. So, without
(00:34):
any more ado, let's go aheadand get started. I might say that
we hope everyone enjoyed the meal,and now it's time for the program to
begin. This is another opportunity forus to learn more about this special group
of individuals who we are honoring thisweekend. We're going to hear from those
who know them the best, andthat's their family and their friends. Each
(00:55):
of the speakers will be allowed totalk for five minutes. Unfortunately, there
will be no injury timeouts and wedon't have any time for overtimes. So
anyway, without any delay, let'sbegin with Jeff Poultz. We'll be speaking
about his long long time officiating friendJR. Johnson, who is being honored
(01:15):
as the twenty twenty four recipient ofthe notorious Official Award. Good morning,
guys, like my classroom, Goodmorning, here you go. We're okay,
guys. I'm gonna talk a littlebit about the early years for JR.
(01:38):
Michael talked a little bit about thelater years. I was a referee
in Virginia and they told me abouta new hot shot official. They said
he does freestyle Greco High school.College said he's the real deal. And
(02:01):
I had never met him, butI was in the locker room getting dressed
and here he walks in, andit's kind of like a top gun moment.
He walks in and everybody's eyes goright to him. He still looks
(02:23):
like he's in college. He's gotsix percent body fat. We're middle aged
men. We got a pop bellyout there, and we're in our forties.
And he sits down beside me andhe introduced himself and I said,
you probably need to get dressed.Over to the left there, and he
(02:45):
got up and he said, that'sthe janitor's closet, and I said,
that's probably where you should get dressed. But that was my first meeting with
JR. So I got to pickthe rotation. Well, you know,
I'm going to be walking on theoutside when he's calling, because I want
(03:06):
to see what this guy's got.And I for the first match, hey,
he's good. He ain't great,but he's good. And then started
watching him more in the round.This guy's better than me. And so
at the end of the round hesaid anything, I said, no,
(03:30):
you were great. So the nextround, I think he followed me and
I said anything, and he said, yeah, there's a couple of things
that I want to go over withyou. But you know, he started
me thinking how to be a betterofficial. And we became friends that weekend,
(03:55):
and I guess twenty eight thirty yearswe've refereed and been very good friends.
The next thing I was going totell you about is the Virginia Dules,
which doctor McCormick started in Virginia Beach. And he said, now,
(04:18):
when you go in there, there'sgoing to be a lot of college officials
and a lot of high school officials. He said, don't talk, just
listen. He said, you'll learnmore about wrestling by listening than talking.
And I did. I went inthere and I listened to what they said.
(04:42):
They called Jr. The JV becausehe had to earn his stripes.
So I think Mike put him againstall the type of the top opponents so
that he had the hardest matches butI gained a lot of information from there,
and then after that the Beast ofthe East. Now this one.
(05:09):
I don't know how he did this. I was on Matt one for four
hours with another guy. Jr.Was the floater, and you know what
I mean by a floater. Henever came around and every match five four
three, two overtime, six five, seven, eight overtime. So after
(05:33):
about four hours JR. Came inand he said, guys, I'm gonna
fill in for you for two matches. First match he had a pin.
Second match he had a pin andI said, this ain't right. We
hadn't had a pin all day.So the third he said, I'm gonna
(05:55):
do one more. Guess what,he had a pin. He laughed at
me and he goes, man,I'm good, and he left me out
there for that. I thought he'sgonna stay for a while. But I've
done a lot with him. He'sa great guy. I'm gonna read this
real quick. Ten rules for JR. To ref by God in family.
(06:19):
First, Always try to help newofficials. Always treat coaches with respect,
Never take officiating for granted, neverstop learning. Always try to be in
the best shape so that you're inbetter shape than the wrestlers. Always try
to get the call right. Alwaysbe in position when you walk in the
(06:44):
gym for a tournament. Know wherethe number one seeds are wrestling at.
And lastly and most important, dFU. Thank you guys, Thank you
no and now we're going to hearsome more from Jr. From Mike McCormick,
who has also been recognized by theHall of Fame as a meritorious Official.
(07:08):
Thanks appreciate it. Well, goodmorning, everybody. Dave. One
thing you forgot is I'm not goingto be five minutes, but there is
referees time so we can dictate thingssometimes. Well, good morning, everybody.
Honored to be here, so thankfulthat JR. Has included me in
(07:30):
this event. Hitting right now whatwe say at your warning. Anyways,
thank you to Dave Leroy and thestaff. This is an amazing event and
I haven't been in a few years, but gosh, it's nice to be
in the presence of so many amazingwrestling people. So the first time I
met JR. We actually wrestled eachother in high school. I think it
(07:51):
was nineteen eighty five, and soI know all weekend people who been talking
about relationships. Little did I knowat your high school in nineteen eighty five
that that match would lead to aforty plus year relationship. And Jr.
Is a special guy. Everyone knowshow good he is at officiating. He's
refereed over twenty Big Ten championships,twenty national championships. I think he's refereed
(08:15):
two or three NWSCA All Star matchestoo many big time, high pressure college
matches you know to list, sohe have to be good to stick around
and have some longevity in that.He's one of the most respected and humbled
officials in the country. His integrity, his strong desires to always get it
(08:37):
right are what makes him so specialin my opinion. And I'm officiating with
him so many times in so manyhigh pressure environments and been able to watch
up close and personally how he managescoaches and wrestlers and the way he's able
to control those environments is what makeshim just one of the best officials in
the country and the ultimate professional professionalin my opinion. Sandy spoke about it
(09:03):
last night just to touch when shewas introducing him, But he's given back
to wrestling in so many ways otherthan officiating and getting yelled at for over
fifteen years, JR. I don'tknow. I can't see where you're sitting.
At least ten You know, he'sbeen responsible for hiring officials for the
Southern Scuffle, all the journeying events, national duels when they've had them.
(09:26):
And of course I'm biased, butI think wrestling officials play such a huge
role in our sport, and soit's a testament to his how will they
trust him? And the tournament directorsthat hire him, you know, he's
doing such a great job that theyjust keep having him back and having him
back and having him back. SoJr's mentored young officials for a long long
time. He's always willing to help, always willing to lead a hand,
(09:50):
and he always takes the high road, which I think is important. JR.
And I have got shared hundreds ofhotel rooms over the last twenty years
twenty five years, spent thousands ofhours in the car or on the phone
talking about situations and interpretation and watchingvideo clips. And I'm really only going
to tell one story about JR.And ironically it happened right here and got
(10:15):
at Okie State match. This wasthree JR. Two. I remember Anyways,
it was the first time JR.Flew on a plane to go referee
that it was paid for by theschool or the organization. And it was
the Okie State Iowa match, andwe flew out here and he was my
assistant, and we did our lockerroom visits after way in, and we
(10:39):
went in the locker room there offthe floor, and I pretended like I
twisted my ankle, and I waslike, JR. Man, I'm really
worried. I don't know that Ican officiate. He goes, what do
you do when that happens? Isaid, you have to referee? And
he turned absolutely ghost wy. JR. Usually has a pretty good tand so
it was funny to see. Butneedless to say, twenty years later,
(11:01):
give or take, here we areand he's being inducted into the Hall of
Fame. So that's pretty ironic andironic to me. JR. Is so
many things. He's a wrestler,he's a wrestling official, he's a great
friend to so many people. Successfulbusiness owner. He's started and sold numerous
companies in the state of Virginia.Now he's a leading salesman in his business
(11:22):
in Virginia. If you need toknow. On a side note, the
name of any owner of any conveniencestore between Alexandria and Virginia and Richmond.
Call him, he'll know him.I think one of the things that often
gets overlooked when we us wrestling peopleget together is that Jr. Is a
(11:43):
great human being. And I thinkeveryone in this room understands that he's a
great husband to his wife Lisa.He's a great dad to Bree and Alexis's
beautiful daughters. And although we makesome sacrifices as wrestling folks, our spouses
and loved ones that we leave behindat home make a ton of sacrifices.
(12:05):
We miss so many things that weprobably shouldn't miss because we like to chase
our own dreams. And so,Lisa and Brie and Alexis, you know,
kudos to you for putting up withhim all the years. I know
those attribute to being a good husbandand a good father are. He takes
more pride in that than he doesany wrestling accolade he gets so finishing up.
(12:26):
I think Jr. Is one ofthe best referees in the country.
He's a leader in our community.His work ethic, his calm demeanor,
his fairness and his honesty are whatmake him so special. So Jr.
I congratulate my friend. Thank youshould good evening, everyone, Welcome,
(12:52):
Welcome to the twenty twenty four Hallof Fame induction of honorees. Were lighted
to have you here with us thisweekend and this evening. I'm happy now
to bring to the podium the Chairmanof the Board of the Governors of the
(13:13):
National Wrestling Hall of Fame, TomSlowey. Good evening, actually great evening
on behalf of the NASHA Wrestling Hallof Fame. Welcome to the forty seventh
Honors induction ceremony. This evening's turnoutis certainly a testimony through the exceptional individuals
(13:37):
week honors this evening, but alsoto the fantastic and loyal support of our
wrestling community. So thank you forbeing here. The NASA Wrestling Hall of
Fame is grateful you're with us tocelebrate the class of twenty twenty four inductees.
This is a very special time aswe recognize and enshrine our sports very
(13:58):
bat and honor their extraordinary achievements.The class of twenty twenty four inductees are
an inspiration to us. All theirlife pass and accomplishments offer positive guidance and
examples to us all, and especiallyto our country's youth and future leaders.
The National Wrestling Hall of Famer isprivileged to host and celebrate Honors weekend with
(14:22):
them. As we all know,wrestling teaches invaluable lessons. It also instills
positive traits that serve us well overa lifetime. Determination, commitment, perseverance,
persistence, and resilience, to namejust a few. And so as
(14:43):
we move forward in life, weare well prepared to manage the challenges and
opportunities that we want encounter with purposeand excellence, and as leaders as an
example for others to follow on,behalf of the sponsors Volunteers, National Wrestling
(15:05):
Hall of Fame Staff, Board ofGovernors, Governors Associates. Thank you for
sharing this evening with us as weproudly celebrate the Class of twenty twenty four.
Thank you our next honoree as ourMeritorious Official Recipient for this year,
Jay R. Johnson. People sithome on their couch and say I can
(15:30):
do that. I can call thisfrom right here. They've never been out
there with twenty five thousand people sixfeet away from you, calling a match.
It's just so much harder than whatit looks like on TV. An
old elementary school friend named Johnny Backusactually is one that started talking to me
(15:56):
about it. And I just didit in Jim Glass for a week or
two and then got hooked and havn'tquit since. In high school, Jr.
Was very competitive. He took thesports series. It was not just
a winter sport. He did playother sports. He did play football,
you know, but he would hewould wrestle in the high school season.
(16:18):
He was looking for places to goto wrestle in the spring and wrestling as
much as he can. He gotinto the freestyle wrestling, uh and so
he was just dedicated, always lookingfor the new moves. And you know,
if he saw me do something inpractice, he wanted me to show
him. He always wanted to learn, and he was always trying to get
(16:40):
to the next level. I stuckwith wrestling instead of football. One.
I was pudgy, and wrestling fitsall sizes, and it was going to
probably be my best chance of youknow, playing varsity and participating and moving
on down the road. And itwas I just I enjoyed it. JR.
And I actually wrestled each other inhigh school. I'm a little bit
(17:00):
older than he is, and sowe met when I was a senior in
high school in nineteen eighty five,and I went on to wrestle at UVA.
He went on to wrestle at VirginiaTech and had a couple of year
head start on him. But weofficiated high school together in the mid nineties,
late nineties he started. I convincedhim to come du college and he
(17:23):
blossomed the man he's. You know, we've gone all over the country together
refereeing well. The trades that makehim so good at what he does is
he just takes it so serious,and he's learning all the time, and
he tries to learn, and he'svery professional. He's very dedicated. Before
(17:44):
jar even leaves to go out oftown, he restudies his wrestling book,
and he's very nervous every time threesteps on the match. But she's very,
very dedicated, and he's very fair, and he loves the sport.
I'll tell you, before the matchit's pretty much easy going, you know,
(18:06):
let it go, But when itcomes time to actually start to match,
it's all business. You know.His his goal is to not miss
any calls, and you know,we self evaluate and sometimes we miss him,
(18:26):
but his goal is to come outof there and the right kid won
for the right reasons, whether I'massisting him or he's assisting me. You
know, we work together at sucha high level for such a long time
that I mean there's tons of communicationthat happens just with our eyesight and our
body language. And I know typicallywhat he was thinking, and he typically
(18:48):
knew what I was thinking. Andto have somebody that you really truly trust,
who you've known for thirty years helpingyou trying to get it right is
it's super super comforting. You know, he is a perfectionist. He wants
to make sure that he gets theright call, and you know he'll go
back and he'll watch his matches andmake sure that he did the right thing.
(19:14):
To be an exceptional official, Ithink a lot of it is just
being fair, staying in good shape, keeping up with the rules, you
know, and you have to eata lot of crow. You know,
there's coaches that are going to catchyou where you made a mistake. You're
willing to change the call and youknow you made a mistake and fix it.
The whole idea is to make surethe student athlete gets the you know,
(19:37):
gets the best shot. Like mostguys that are at the top of
the you know, the food chain, so to speak. We talk all
the time. We talked daily duringthe season. We talk on the weekends
after big matches. You know thatwe want opinions of guys that we trust
that are our colleagues doing the samething on on honestly, was it the
(19:59):
right cal or was it the wrongcall? And if we had to do
it again, would change it?And you know JR. Is one of
those guys that wouldn't hesitate to changehis call if it meant doing the right
thing for the kids. Changing acall to me, I think it's just
being fair. It's human nature.You make a mistake. I've looked at
(20:21):
calls, I've changed him, andthen a week later, I've looked at
him and wished I hadn't changed him. I'm no different than the wrestlers.
I'm no different than the coaches.My blood pressure gets up there. I'm
you know, I'm hearing the whatever, how many thousands of people are in
the stands, I know how manypeople are watching, you know, and
I'm hearing little Johnny's mom, dad, everybody screaming, you know, the
(20:44):
table's screaming. So it's you.You get to see everybody. You know,
one side you're going to have lovingyou, and the other side they're
gonna hate you. So it's it'sit's gratifying if you change it and you
really think that you got it right, and if you can go back.
I can look at it later ondown the road towards the end of the
season when the coaches are evaluating you, or Mike Haggerty or Mike McCormick is
(21:08):
looking at you know, should youget postseason and you do, then it's
you know that you had a goodyear and it's well worth the time.
I mean to me, it's notyou're not really taking anything away from me.
I'm taking more away from the studentathlete. If I don't change it.
Change It's easy at a really highlevel for a long long time.
(21:30):
You know, twenty plus years,Jr. Has the uncanny ability to watch
things and you know what his eyessee, then be able to process that
information and monitor and analyze and thenin literally a fraction of a second make
a decision and get it right.Nine nine point nine percent of time you
(21:52):
know, and that may seem reallyeasy to do from the stands in the
front row, it's not easy todo. And he's done it really really
well for a really really long time, and he's one of the best guys
to ever do it. This isa hunter. I don't know how to
put it in words. You know, he loves the sport and he gives
you know, he got a lotout of it. I know he'll tell
(22:14):
you that, and he gives alot back. I never thought I would
ever get to this point when Igot nominated. I one. I didn't
think they would accept the nomination.I didn't even know the process. When
I got the phone call in thecar, I thought there was a joke.
I think I have grown to lovewrestling just because I haven't been around
it for twenty plus years now.And to watch my girls also learn with
(22:38):
it and grow with it and seehow much share is growing with it has
made me also learn to love it. It's probably the most humbling thing I've
ever had. Let's bring out ourHonorary j R. Coming forward with his
(23:02):
presenters and fellow officials. Mike McCormick, himself a meritorious official at the National
Wrestling Hall of Fame and Jeff pullsgood evening. That's true, an incredible
(23:33):
video. That's some of the thingsthat your friends and family say. It
it really takes you back. Sorry, I'm not good in front of large
crowds. Usually I have a whistlein my mouth, and I control what's
gonna happen and what I you know, who's going to talk, and so
on and so forth, And thisis just a little different atmosphere for me.
(23:56):
So if I stumble a little bit, I apology this two minutes.
When they told me I had itwas I thought that would be no problem.
I've been in a lot of twominute situations in my career, and
now I feel sorry for some ofthe things I was thinking during those years.
That guy on top that was scoringeasy points, that that clock goes
(24:18):
real fast, that guy on bottomis getting the points scored against him.
That clock moves very slow. Soas I was trying to get my speech
together, I timed myself and itmoved awful slow for me. So I
have a new feeling for those guys. But first off, I like to
think everyone who made this incredible honorpossible. It's being inducted into the Hall
(24:42):
of Fames beyond anything I ever imagined, and I am truly humbled. Congratulations
to all the other inductees. Thatclass is unbelievable. It's to be mentioned
with him. His part by itselfis unbelievable. A special shout out to
the gentleman that wrote letters of recommendationfor me. I don't know how Mike
(25:07):
McCormick worked it out getting these coachesto write them, but it might have
cost him a little pretty penny.Coach Kevin Dresser, Coach Cale Sanderson,
Coach Brands, and coach Mike Moyerfor their letters of recommendation that support and
the letters that you wrote were secondto none. I greatly appreciate it.
(25:30):
Some surprised me with what they wrote. Last time I talked to him,
they were speaking a different tone ora different language at the end SAA,
so it was a little different.Like I said on that video, when
mister Smith called me up, Iwas driving down the road and he said,
this is Leroy Smith, and Iwas assuming I'm not on speed dial
with them. So referees tend toprank a lot, and I thought this
(25:53):
was going to be a good one, so I said some things basically get
out of here, and I wasgetting ready to hang up. Thank god
I didn't, but I still didn'tbelieve him. So I called Mike as
soon as I got off the phone, and as soon as he congratulated me,
I figured, I don't know whatthese people are thinking there. It's
a but he got in by andI greatly appreciate it. Thank you,
(26:15):
mister Smith. Of course I gotto thank my family, my wife Lisa
and daughters Brianna and Alexis. They'reon waivering support has been invaluable to me.
You know, I missed many weekends, many special occasions. I don't
think I've spent New Years with mywife for twenty plus years because of the
(26:37):
Southern Scuffle, and to her thatwas not a New Year's to go down
there and watch wrestling for all day. And I was tired at the end
of the day, so we usuallyjust talked to each other and then pre
recorded the ball dropping and watched aboutthe fourth or fifth of January. But
thank you very much for everything thatyou guys put up with and helped me
(26:59):
along this journey of ID like tothank coach Crocker. As you saw on
the video, my high school coachor one of them. He really helped
me out with the high school rules, and same with Chris Chiles. He
was an integral part of me startingand refereeing back in high school. And
then of course I got to thinkJeff Poltz. You heard him on there.
(27:19):
We spent a lot of time togetherand he's just been one of the
best friends and individuals that anybody couldask for. He tells me when things
are not looking good, when Ihad a bad match, when I had
a good match. But it's alwaysbeen somebody that could lean on. I
(27:41):
got to thank mister Haggerty and PatFitzgerald. When I first started, I
used to watch them. I askedMike McCormick, who should I watch?
You know, I saw Mike allthe time, but it was Mike Haggerty
and Pat and I just you know, picking up on little things that they
did. Watching the way they interactwith the coaches and just the way they
carried themselves was invaluable. I neverI don't think they even knew what I
(28:06):
was doing. But I was justwatching little by little and trying to learn
as much as I could, andI couldn't believe it when, of course
mister Haggert is now my boss inthe Big Ten, so I still am
leaning on him and getting some verygood advice. I'd like to give us
special thanks to doctor McCormick, Mike'sfather. He helped me when I first
(28:26):
started off, was a great mentor. Most of y'all pretty much know him.
And of course I got to thankMike, which has done so much
for me inside and outside of wrestling. He's taught me the sport from the
ref's perspective, but he's also taughtme from the adult perspective and that I
was. I tend to answer thingswithout thinking a lot, and he has
(28:49):
taught me to slow down, andit's been more like a big brother and
just second to none. I can'tcan't thank him for everything that he's done
for me and my family. Wehave a room together for quite some time
at the Big Tens and the NCAA'stwenty years and I can always ask him
questions. And it wasn't if hesaid I did something wrong. It wasn't
(29:11):
putting me down. It is actuallytried to help me out, so it
was well worth all the time andeffort. I just wanted to say thank
you, and if there's anybody Imissed, I cratly apologize, but there's
been so many people that have helpedme along the way. I just hope
they know who they are. Andif I did miss you, I apologize
and thank you everybody for whoever hadanything to do with me getting on this
(29:36):
board with these incredible other inductees.I can't thank you enough. I'll be
safe and thank you very much.If you wonder why I'm hesitating, it's
(29:57):
because I'm baffled. You know,I'm sitting over on the side, so
sometimes I don't hear things completely clearly. Did I actually hear Jr? Say
that the head coaches at Penn Stateand Iowa agreed on something? I think
(30:18):
so. Legends is a presentation ofthe National Wrestling Hall of Fame and produced
by the matt Talk podcast network.If you want to hear more from wrestling's
legends, contribute to the project todayby going to matttalkonline dot com slash contribute.
(30:45):
We hope you've enjoyed this look inthe wrestling history. This has been
Legends. I'm Jason Bryant repet
From the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. This is Legends. Is Legends.
I'm Jason Bryant. Prepare for ajourney through wrestling's past, present, and
future. As we'll hear are thegreat stories of wrestling and success from the
true legends of the sport here onHall of Fame Legends. So, without
(00:34):
any more ado, let's go aheadand get started. I might say that
we hope everyone enjoyed the meal,and now it's time for the program to
begin. This is another opportunity forus to learn more about this special group
of individuals who we are honoring thisweekend. We're going to hear from those
who know them the best, andthat's their family and their friends. Each
(00:55):
of the speakers will be allowed totalk for five minutes. Unfortunately, there
will be no injury timeouts and wedon't have any time for overtimes. So
anyway, without any delay, let'sbegin with Jeff Poultz. We'll be speaking
about his long long time officiating friendJR. Johnson, who is being honored
(01:15):
as the twenty twenty four recipient ofthe notorious Official Award. Good morning,
guys, like my classroom, Goodmorning, here you go. We're okay,
guys. I'm gonna talk a littlebit about the early years for JR.
(01:38):
Michael talked a little bit about thelater years. I was a referee
in Virginia and they told me abouta new hot shot official. They said
he does freestyle Greco High school.College said he's the real deal. And
(02:01):
I had never met him, butI was in the locker room getting dressed
and here he walks in, andit's kind of like a top gun moment.
He walks in and everybody's eyes goright to him. He still looks
(02:23):
like he's in college. He's gotsix percent body fat. We're middle aged
men. We got a pop bellyout there, and we're in our forties.
And he sits down beside me andhe introduced himself and I said,
you probably need to get dressed.Over to the left there, and he
(02:45):
got up and he said, that'sthe janitor's closet, and I said,
that's probably where you should get dressed. But that was my first meeting with
JR. So I got to pickthe rotation. Well, you know,
I'm going to be walking on theoutside when he's calling, because I want
(03:06):
to see what this guy's got.And I for the first match, hey,
he's good. He ain't great,but he's good. And then started
watching him more in the round.This guy's better than me. And so
at the end of the round hesaid anything, I said, no,
(03:30):
you were great. So the nextround, I think he followed me and
I said anything, and he said, yeah, there's a couple of things
that I want to go over withyou. But you know, he started
me thinking how to be a betterofficial. And we became friends that weekend,
(03:55):
and I guess twenty eight thirty yearswe've refereed and been very good friends.
The next thing I was going totell you about is the Virginia Dules,
which doctor McCormick started in Virginia Beach. And he said, now,
(04:18):
when you go in there, there'sgoing to be a lot of college officials
and a lot of high school officials. He said, don't talk, just
listen. He said, you'll learnmore about wrestling by listening than talking.
And I did. I went inthere and I listened to what they said.
(04:42):
They called Jr. The JV becausehe had to earn his stripes.
So I think Mike put him againstall the type of the top opponents so
that he had the hardest matches butI gained a lot of information from there,
and then after that the Beast ofthe East. Now this one.
(05:09):
I don't know how he did this. I was on Matt one for four
hours with another guy. Jr.Was the floater, and you know what
I mean by a floater. Henever came around and every match five four
three, two overtime, six five, seven, eight overtime. So after
(05:33):
about four hours JR. Came inand he said, guys, I'm gonna
fill in for you for two matches. First match he had a pin.
Second match he had a pin andI said, this ain't right. We
hadn't had a pin all day.So the third he said, I'm gonna
(05:55):
do one more. Guess what,he had a pin. He laughed at
me and he goes, man,I'm good, and he left me out
there for that. I thought he'sgonna stay for a while. But I've
done a lot with him. He'sa great guy. I'm gonna read this
real quick. Ten rules for JR. To ref by God in family.
(06:19):
First, Always try to help newofficials. Always treat coaches with respect,
Never take officiating for granted, neverstop learning. Always try to be in
the best shape so that you're inbetter shape than the wrestlers. Always try
to get the call right. Alwaysbe in position when you walk in the
(06:44):
gym for a tournament. Know wherethe number one seeds are wrestling at.
And lastly and most important, dFU. Thank you guys, Thank you
no and now we're going to hearsome more from Jr. From Mike McCormick,
who has also been recognized by theHall of Fame as a meritorious Official.
(07:08):
Thanks appreciate it. Well, goodmorning, everybody. Dave. One
thing you forgot is I'm not goingto be five minutes, but there is
referees time so we can dictate thingssometimes. Well, good morning, everybody.
Honored to be here, so thankfulthat JR. Has included me in
(07:30):
this event. Hitting right now whatwe say at your warning. Anyways,
thank you to Dave Leroy and thestaff. This is an amazing event and
I haven't been in a few years, but gosh, it's nice to be
in the presence of so many amazingwrestling people. So the first time I
met JR. We actually wrestled eachother in high school. I think it
(07:51):
was nineteen eighty five, and soI know all weekend people who been talking
about relationships. Little did I knowat your high school in nineteen eighty five
that that match would lead to aforty plus year relationship. And Jr.
Is a special guy. Everyone knowshow good he is at officiating. He's
refereed over twenty Big Ten championships,twenty national championships. I think he's refereed
(08:15):
two or three NWSCA All Star matchestoo many big time, high pressure college
matches you know to list, sohe have to be good to stick around
and have some longevity in that.He's one of the most respected and humbled
officials in the country. His integrity, his strong desires to always get it
(08:37):
right are what makes him so specialin my opinion. And I'm officiating with
him so many times in so manyhigh pressure environments and been able to watch
up close and personally how he managescoaches and wrestlers and the way he's able
to control those environments is what makeshim just one of the best officials in
the country and the ultimate professional professionalin my opinion. Sandy spoke about it
(09:03):
last night just to touch when shewas introducing him, But he's given back
to wrestling in so many ways otherthan officiating and getting yelled at for over
fifteen years, JR. I don'tknow. I can't see where you're sitting.
At least ten You know, he'sbeen responsible for hiring officials for the
Southern Scuffle, all the journeying events, national duels when they've had them.
(09:26):
And of course I'm biased, butI think wrestling officials play such a huge
role in our sport, and soit's a testament to his how will they
trust him? And the tournament directorsthat hire him, you know, he's
doing such a great job that theyjust keep having him back and having him
back and having him back. SoJr's mentored young officials for a long long
time. He's always willing to help, always willing to lead a hand,
(09:50):
and he always takes the high road, which I think is important. JR.
And I have got shared hundreds ofhotel rooms over the last twenty years
twenty five years, spent thousands ofhours in the car or on the phone
talking about situations and interpretation and watchingvideo clips. And I'm really only going
to tell one story about JR.And ironically it happened right here and got
(10:15):
at Okie State match. This wasthree JR. Two. I remember Anyways,
it was the first time JR.Flew on a plane to go referee
that it was paid for by theschool or the organization. And it was
the Okie State Iowa match, andwe flew out here and he was my
assistant, and we did our lockerroom visits after way in, and we
(10:39):
went in the locker room there offthe floor, and I pretended like I
twisted my ankle, and I waslike, JR. Man, I'm really
worried. I don't know that Ican officiate. He goes, what do
you do when that happens? Isaid, you have to referee? And
he turned absolutely ghost wy. JR. Usually has a pretty good tand so
it was funny to see. Butneedless to say, twenty years later,
(11:01):
give or take, here we areand he's being inducted into the Hall of
Fame. So that's pretty ironic andironic to me. JR. Is so
many things. He's a wrestler,he's a wrestling official, he's a great
friend to so many people. Successfulbusiness owner. He's started and sold numerous
companies in the state of Virginia.Now he's a leading salesman in his business
(11:22):
in Virginia. If you need toknow. On a side note, the
name of any owner of any conveniencestore between Alexandria and Virginia and Richmond.
Call him, he'll know him.I think one of the things that often
gets overlooked when we us wrestling peopleget together is that Jr. Is a
(11:43):
great human being. And I thinkeveryone in this room understands that he's a
great husband to his wife Lisa.He's a great dad to Bree and Alexis's
beautiful daughters. And although we makesome sacrifices as wrestling folks, our spouses
and loved ones that we leave behindat home make a ton of sacrifices.
(12:05):
We miss so many things that weprobably shouldn't miss because we like to chase
our own dreams. And so,Lisa and Brie and Alexis, you know,
kudos to you for putting up withhim all the years. I know
those attribute to being a good husbandand a good father are. He takes
more pride in that than he doesany wrestling accolade he gets so finishing up.
(12:26):
I think Jr. Is one ofthe best referees in the country.
He's a leader in our community.His work ethic, his calm demeanor,
his fairness and his honesty are whatmake him so special. So Jr.
I congratulate my friend. Thank youshould good evening, everyone, Welcome,
(12:52):
Welcome to the twenty twenty four Hallof Fame induction of honorees. Were lighted
to have you here with us thisweekend and this evening. I'm happy now
to bring to the podium the Chairmanof the Board of the Governors of the
(13:13):
National Wrestling Hall of Fame, TomSlowey. Good evening, actually great evening
on behalf of the NASHA Wrestling Hallof Fame. Welcome to the forty seventh
Honors induction ceremony. This evening's turnoutis certainly a testimony through the exceptional individuals
(13:37):
week honors this evening, but alsoto the fantastic and loyal support of our
wrestling community. So thank you forbeing here. The NASA Wrestling Hall of
Fame is grateful you're with us tocelebrate the class of twenty twenty four inductees.
This is a very special time aswe recognize and enshrine our sports very
(13:58):
bat and honor their extraordinary achievements.The class of twenty twenty four inductees are
an inspiration to us. All theirlife pass and accomplishments offer positive guidance and
examples to us all, and especiallyto our country's youth and future leaders.
The National Wrestling Hall of Famer isprivileged to host and celebrate Honors weekend with
(14:22):
them. As we all know,wrestling teaches invaluable lessons. It also instills
positive traits that serve us well overa lifetime. Determination, commitment, perseverance,
persistence, and resilience, to namejust a few. And so as
(14:43):
we move forward in life, weare well prepared to manage the challenges and
opportunities that we want encounter with purposeand excellence, and as leaders as an
example for others to follow on,behalf of the sponsors Volunteers, National Wrestling
(15:05):
Hall of Fame Staff, Board ofGovernors, Governors Associates. Thank you for
sharing this evening with us as weproudly celebrate the Class of twenty twenty four.
Thank you our next honoree as ourMeritorious Official Recipient for this year,
Jay R. Johnson. People sithome on their couch and say I can
(15:30):
do that. I can call thisfrom right here. They've never been out
there with twenty five thousand people sixfeet away from you, calling a match.
It's just so much harder than whatit looks like on TV. An
old elementary school friend named Johnny Backusactually is one that started talking to me
(15:56):
about it. And I just didit in Jim Glass for a week or
two and then got hooked and havn'tquit since. In high school, Jr.
Was very competitive. He took thesports series. It was not just
a winter sport. He did playother sports. He did play football,
you know, but he would hewould wrestle in the high school season.
(16:18):
He was looking for places to goto wrestle in the spring and wrestling as
much as he can. He gotinto the freestyle wrestling, uh and so
he was just dedicated, always lookingfor the new moves. And you know,
if he saw me do something inpractice, he wanted me to show
him. He always wanted to learn, and he was always trying to get
(16:40):
to the next level. I stuckwith wrestling instead of football. One.
I was pudgy, and wrestling fitsall sizes, and it was going to
probably be my best chance of youknow, playing varsity and participating and moving
on down the road. And itwas I just I enjoyed it. JR.
And I actually wrestled each other inhigh school. I'm a little bit
(17:00):
older than he is, and sowe met when I was a senior in
high school in nineteen eighty five,and I went on to wrestle at UVA.
He went on to wrestle at VirginiaTech and had a couple of year
head start on him. But weofficiated high school together in the mid nineties,
late nineties he started. I convincedhim to come du college and he
(17:23):
blossomed the man he's. You know, we've gone all over the country together
refereeing well. The trades that makehim so good at what he does is
he just takes it so serious,and he's learning all the time, and
he tries to learn, and he'svery professional. He's very dedicated. Before
(17:44):
jar even leaves to go out oftown, he restudies his wrestling book,
and he's very nervous every time threesteps on the match. But she's very,
very dedicated, and he's very fair, and he loves the sport.
I'll tell you, before the matchit's pretty much easy going, you know,
(18:06):
let it go, But when itcomes time to actually start to match,
it's all business. You know.His his goal is to not miss
any calls, and you know,we self evaluate and sometimes we miss him,
(18:26):
but his goal is to come outof there and the right kid won
for the right reasons, whether I'massisting him or he's assisting me. You
know, we work together at sucha high level for such a long time
that I mean there's tons of communicationthat happens just with our eyesight and our
body language. And I know typicallywhat he was thinking, and he typically
(18:48):
knew what I was thinking. Andto have somebody that you really truly trust,
who you've known for thirty years helpingyou trying to get it right is
it's super super comforting. You know, he is a perfectionist. He wants
to make sure that he gets theright call, and you know he'll go
back and he'll watch his matches andmake sure that he did the right thing.
(19:14):
To be an exceptional official, Ithink a lot of it is just
being fair, staying in good shape, keeping up with the rules, you
know, and you have to eata lot of crow. You know,
there's coaches that are going to catchyou where you made a mistake. You're
willing to change the call and youknow you made a mistake and fix it.
The whole idea is to make surethe student athlete gets the you know,
(19:37):
gets the best shot. Like mostguys that are at the top of
the you know, the food chain, so to speak. We talk all
the time. We talked daily duringthe season. We talk on the weekends
after big matches. You know thatwe want opinions of guys that we trust
that are our colleagues doing the samething on on honestly, was it the
(19:59):
right cal or was it the wrongcall? And if we had to do
it again, would change it?And you know JR. Is one of
those guys that wouldn't hesitate to changehis call if it meant doing the right
thing for the kids. Changing acall to me, I think it's just
being fair. It's human nature.You make a mistake. I've looked at
(20:21):
calls, I've changed him, andthen a week later, I've looked at
him and wished I hadn't changed him. I'm no different than the wrestlers.
I'm no different than the coaches.My blood pressure gets up there. I'm
you know, I'm hearing the whatever, how many thousands of people are in
the stands, I know how manypeople are watching, you know, and
I'm hearing little Johnny's mom, dad, everybody screaming, you know, the
(20:44):
table's screaming. So it's you.You get to see everybody. You know,
one side you're going to have lovingyou, and the other side they're
gonna hate you. So it's it'sit's gratifying if you change it and you
really think that you got it right, and if you can go back.
I can look at it later ondown the road towards the end of the
season when the coaches are evaluating you, or Mike Haggerty or Mike McCormick is
(21:08):
looking at you know, should youget postseason and you do, then it's
you know that you had a goodyear and it's well worth the time.
I mean to me, it's notyou're not really taking anything away from me.
I'm taking more away from the studentathlete. If I don't change it.
Change It's easy at a really highlevel for a long long time.
(21:30):
You know, twenty plus years,Jr. Has the uncanny ability to watch
things and you know what his eyessee, then be able to process that
information and monitor and analyze and thenin literally a fraction of a second make
a decision and get it right.Nine nine point nine percent of time you
(21:52):
know, and that may seem reallyeasy to do from the stands in the
front row, it's not easy todo. And he's done it really really
well for a really really long time, and he's one of the best guys
to ever do it. This isa hunter. I don't know how to
put it in words. You know, he loves the sport and he gives
you know, he got a lotout of it. I know he'll tell
(22:14):
you that, and he gives alot back. I never thought I would
ever get to this point when Igot nominated. I one. I didn't
think they would accept the nomination.I didn't even know the process. When
I got the phone call in thecar, I thought there was a joke.
I think I have grown to lovewrestling just because I haven't been around
it for twenty plus years now.And to watch my girls also learn with
(22:38):
it and grow with it and seehow much share is growing with it has
made me also learn to love it. It's probably the most humbling thing I've
ever had. Let's bring out ourHonorary j R. Coming forward with his
(23:02):
presenters and fellow officials. Mike McCormick, himself a meritorious official at the National
Wrestling Hall of Fame and Jeff pullsgood evening. That's true, an incredible
(23:33):
video. That's some of the thingsthat your friends and family say. It
it really takes you back. Sorry, I'm not good in front of large
crowds. Usually I have a whistlein my mouth, and I control what's
gonna happen and what I you know, who's going to talk, and so
on and so forth, And thisis just a little different atmosphere for me.
(23:56):
So if I stumble a little bit, I apology this two minutes.
When they told me I had itwas I thought that would be no problem.
I've been in a lot of twominute situations in my career, and
now I feel sorry for some ofthe things I was thinking during those years.
That guy on top that was scoringeasy points, that that clock goes
(24:18):
real fast, that guy on bottomis getting the points scored against him.
That clock moves very slow. Soas I was trying to get my speech
together, I timed myself and itmoved awful slow for me. So I
have a new feeling for those guys. But first off, I like to
think everyone who made this incredible honorpossible. It's being inducted into the Hall
(24:42):
of Fames beyond anything I ever imagined, and I am truly humbled. Congratulations
to all the other inductees. Thatclass is unbelievable. It's to be mentioned
with him. His part by itselfis unbelievable. A special shout out to
the gentleman that wrote letters of recommendationfor me. I don't know how Mike
(25:07):
McCormick worked it out getting these coachesto write them, but it might have
cost him a little pretty penny.Coach Kevin Dresser, Coach Cale Sanderson,
Coach Brands, and coach Mike Moyerfor their letters of recommendation that support and
the letters that you wrote were secondto none. I greatly appreciate it.
(25:30):
Some surprised me with what they wrote. Last time I talked to him,
they were speaking a different tone ora different language at the end SAA,
so it was a little different.Like I said on that video, when
mister Smith called me up, Iwas driving down the road and he said,
this is Leroy Smith, and Iwas assuming I'm not on speed dial
with them. So referees tend toprank a lot, and I thought this
(25:53):
was going to be a good one, so I said some things basically get
out of here, and I wasgetting ready to hang up. Thank god
I didn't, but I still didn'tbelieve him. So I called Mike as
soon as I got off the phone, and as soon as he congratulated me,
I figured, I don't know whatthese people are thinking there. It's
a but he got in by andI greatly appreciate it. Thank you,
(26:15):
mister Smith. Of course I gotto thank my family, my wife Lisa
and daughters Brianna and Alexis. They'reon waivering support has been invaluable to me.
You know, I missed many weekends, many special occasions. I don't
think I've spent New Years with mywife for twenty plus years because of the
(26:37):
Southern Scuffle, and to her thatwas not a New Year's to go down
there and watch wrestling for all day. And I was tired at the end
of the day, so we usuallyjust talked to each other and then pre
recorded the ball dropping and watched aboutthe fourth or fifth of January. But
thank you very much for everything thatyou guys put up with and helped me
(26:59):
along this journey of ID like tothank coach Crocker. As you saw on
the video, my high school coachor one of them. He really helped
me out with the high school rules, and same with Chris Chiles. He
was an integral part of me startingand refereeing back in high school. And
then of course I got to thinkJeff Poltz. You heard him on there.
(27:19):
We spent a lot of time togetherand he's just been one of the
best friends and individuals that anybody couldask for. He tells me when things
are not looking good, when Ihad a bad match, when I had
a good match. But it's alwaysbeen somebody that could lean on. I
(27:41):
got to thank mister Haggerty and PatFitzgerald. When I first started, I
used to watch them. I askedMike McCormick, who should I watch?
You know, I saw Mike allthe time, but it was Mike Haggerty
and Pat and I just you know, picking up on little things that they
did. Watching the way they interactwith the coaches and just the way they
carried themselves was invaluable. I neverI don't think they even knew what I
(28:06):
was doing. But I was justwatching little by little and trying to learn
as much as I could, andI couldn't believe it when, of course
mister Haggert is now my boss inthe Big Ten, so I still am
leaning on him and getting some verygood advice. I'd like to give us
special thanks to doctor McCormick, Mike'sfather. He helped me when I first
(28:26):
started off, was a great mentor. Most of y'all pretty much know him.
And of course I got to thankMike, which has done so much
for me inside and outside of wrestling. He's taught me the sport from the
ref's perspective, but he's also taughtme from the adult perspective and that I
was. I tend to answer thingswithout thinking a lot, and he has
(28:49):
taught me to slow down, andit's been more like a big brother and
just second to none. I can'tcan't thank him for everything that he's done
for me and my family. Wehave a room together for quite some time
at the Big Tens and the NCAA'stwenty years and I can always ask him
questions. And it wasn't if hesaid I did something wrong. It wasn't
(29:11):
putting me down. It is actuallytried to help me out, so it
was well worth all the time andeffort. I just wanted to say thank
you, and if there's anybody Imissed, I cratly apologize, but there's
been so many people that have helpedme along the way. I just hope
they know who they are. Andif I did miss you, I apologize
and thank you everybody for whoever hadanything to do with me getting on this
(29:36):
board with these incredible other inductees.I can't thank you enough. I'll be
safe and thank you very much.If you wonder why I'm hesitating, it's
(29:57):
because I'm baffled. You know,I'm sitting over on the side, so
sometimes I don't hear things completely clearly. Did I actually hear Jr? Say
that the head coaches at Penn Stateand Iowa agreed on something? I think
(30:18):
so. Legends is a presentation ofthe National Wrestling Hall of Fame and produced
by the matt Talk podcast network.If you want to hear more from wrestling's
legends, contribute to the project todayby going to matttalkonline dot com slash contribute.
(30:45):
We hope you've enjoyed this look inthe wrestling history. This has been
Legends. I'm Jason Bryant repet
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