Class of 2020

Dr. Dale Stephen Porter was born and raised on the southern outskirts of Watertown on his family's dairy farm, the youngest of six children. He is a 1971 Honors and Regents graduate of South Jefferson Central School in Adams and was a standout scholar-athlete competing in three sports: wrestling, football, and track. He was chosen as the first inductee into the South Jefferson Wrestling Hall of Fame. Throughout his high school wrestling years he was coached by Section III Hall of Famer Stephen Jackowski.

Dr. Porter went on to make records at Cornell University graduating with Honors and was named to the All-Ivy Team in both wrestling and lightweight football for the Big Red during his time there. He won the NCAA Division I Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Championship at 150 lbs. in 1974 and is among an elite group of athletes inducted into the Cornell University Athletic Hall of Fame. He also was inducted into Cornell's Wrestling Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 2010.

After his collegiate wrestling career ended, Dr. Porter joined the Watertown Wrestling Officials Association and spent several years on the mat as a referee. He officiated many Frontier League, Class, Sectional and New York State Wrestling Tournaments as well as Division III College Tournaments including three NCAA Division III Nationals.

A debilitating back injury actually led him to his career change in 1986 as a chiropractor. After the discovery and astonishing success of chiropractic when conventional medicine approaches did not help alleviate his back pain, he chose to make the profession his own. He is a summa cum laude graduate of Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, and practices in Watertown, NY.

Dr. Porter served for 10 years as a member, including a term as president, of the South Jefferson Central School District's Board of Education.

Currently Dr. Porter resides on Clear Lake in northern New York not far from the 1000 Islands. He and is his wife Beth of 43 years have two children and six grandchildren. His son, Stephen, captured a Section III Wrestling Title in 1998 for South Jefferson; a mere 27 years after his father! And, daughter, Dr. Kelly Porter, followed in her father's footsteps by becoming a chiropractor; both children attended Cornell University like their dad.

He's been pulled back into the wrestling community once again as his oldest grandson Landon began wrestling a few years ago representing the 3rd generation of Porters wearing the South Jefferson wrestling uniform.