Rick Tucci GARY ABBOTT’S MATSIDE CHAT WITH...
Rick Tucci is a legend in international wrestling, one of the greatest referees in history. A New Jersey high school wrestler, he went on to compete at the University of West Virginia. After a stint as a graduate assistant there, he moved to Florida to begin his teaching career at the high school and college level. He was head coach for a decade at Miami Dade Junior College. He started refereeing in college, and then on the high school
levels in Florida. Referee Steve Evanoff invited Tucci to help at a Junior World tournament, and he was soon hooked on officiat- ing the international styles. Since then, he was selected for seven Olympic Games,
worked every World Championships from 1975-2013, and has served almost three decades as the president of the U.S. Wrestling Officials Association. He won the Golden Whistle as the best referee at the 1988 Olympics. He remains very involved in USA Wrestling and within Pan American wrestling. Tucci shared his journey with USA Wrestler shortly after the USA vs. Cuba dual meet in Times Square.
USA Wrestler: How did you get involved in wrestling as a
kid? Tucci: When I was in ninth grade, the thing to do was go out
for football. They had nothing that fit me. I was 90 pounds, soaking wet. After a few days I had blisters on my feet and I fig- ured I didn’t need this. In phys ed class, we had wrestling. In New Jersey, it is a big sport. A couple of my friends were going to do it, so I said, sure, why not? I was pretty competitive. My coach was an old-time coach from New Jersey, Albie Mayer. He taught us just the basics in class. Then we had an intramural tournament and I won it. I got a bloody nose out of it, and I was thinking, this is a violent sport. The wrestling coach asked me to come out and I did. I made the team as a 98-pounder.
USA Wrestler: How did you fare in high school wrestling? Tucci: I wrestled 98, 103, my junior year was 112 and 120,
then I ended back down at 98. I was undefeated as a high school wrestler in duals. I won the district tournament every year. In the regional tournament my junior year, I met the even- tual state champion and lost to him 2-1. I found out it was the first point scored on him all year. That didn’t help, though. My senior year, I got chicken pox right after the district tournament. I never really made it to state, but I was close.
USA Wrestler: Tell us about your college career at West
Virginia. Tucci: I didn’t get any scholarship offers. I applied to Montclair State. I wanted to be a physical education major. I also applied to a school in West Virginia, because I wanted to get away from home, Morris Harvey College, now the College of Charleston. It didn’t have wrestling. There were a lot of kids from Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey. I won the intramural tournament there. A couple guys said they were transferring to West Virginia, which was closer to New Jersey. I transferred up. At West Virginia, I came in as a sophomore and made the varsi- ty team. My junior year, I was offered tuition and fees, which I gladly took since I didn’t have much money. I did fairly well. I
24 USA Wrestler
Referee Rick Tucci with bronze medalist Clarissa Chun at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. John Sachs photo.
won the Southern Conference. I ended up with a knee injury which needed an operation. They cut it open, the zipper kind. The next year, in the middle of the season, my other knee went. I was in the hospital over Christmas. The wrestling coach was also the baseball coach, Steve Harrick. When it came time, he wanted to know when I’d be ready to go. In those days, you are either ready or not ready. Three weeks after that I went on the mat and wrestled. I was timid. I was afraid to shoot. But I ended up winning and finishing the season.
USA Wrestler: What got you into coaching and brought you
to Florida? Tucci: Coach Harrick offered me the graduate assistant posi-
tion to help coach. When baseball season was coming around, he used to come to wrestling practice in his baseball uniform. He’d start the practice, and the captains would run the practice and he’d go out to the baseball field. When I was grad assis- tant, I worked with the seniors on the team, mostly Pennsylvania, New Jersey and a few West Virginia kids and we ran the team. It helped pay for college. I graduated with a BS in Phys Ed and Biology, and a Masters degree in Biology and Physics. Different school systems came in for the Placement Service, and they’d do interviews. I interviewed everywhere, from Ontario, California to Maryland near DC and Dade County in Florida. I went to Daytona for spring break in college and loved the beach and the weather. They had a big strike and fired a bunch of teachers. There were all kinds of openings in Dade. I had just been married and had a baby on the way. I fig- ured this was a good place to start.
USA Wrestler: How did you end up becoming a referee? Tucci: In graduate school, there were a few high schools
close by and the wrestling coach knew these coaches. They had a meet and the referee couldn’t make it. They asked if I could referee it. I said I never refereed in my life. I knew the rules. He gave me a grey shirt and said just go over there and ref. It was Morgantown High against St. Albans, I think. Nobody
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