Class of 2007

James Scandura followed his brother Joseph into wrestling at Bay Shore High School in Long Island in 1948. When James graduated from Bay Shore in 1952 he was captain of the wrestling team and football team.

After graduating from Maritime College, Jim got a job for the US Department of Transportation and took a job transfer to the Watertown, NY area in 1962. Watertown area was in need of wrestling officials and one of the local wrestling coaches, Section III Hall of Famer Jack Williams, convinced Jim to become a wrestling official.

Jim worked for the Watertown Wrestling Officials for 3 years before transferring to the capital area and becoming a member of the Capital District Wrestling Officials Association (CDWOA) in 1967. Once working in the Section 2 area, James officiated 50 to 60 assignments per year. Over the next 15 years James would become the CDWOA Vice President, its President and Rules Interpreter. He became a member and President of the New York State Wrestling Officials Association (NYSWOA). James was also a member of the National Wrestling Association Rules Committee and officiated high school, college and international matches.

Jim was part of the 1975 Youth Friendship wrestling team trip to Germany. When Jim found out that there was no accommodation or mats for his wrestlers to practice between matches he bought a soccer ball and had them run soccer drills to stay in shape between matches.

Jim was an official in the 1976 Montreal Olympics and officiated some of the qualifying matches.

Eventually Scanduras government job would assign significant added workload to him and he was forced to resign his wrestling officiating duties and hang up his whistle in 1981.

Jim is happily retired today and he and his wife live in Saratoga Springs in the summer and Florida in the winter.