Pat Pecora, who built the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown wrestling program into a national power and led the Mountain Cats to more wins than any coach in college wrestling history, died Sunday after a long, inspirational battle with cancer.
He was 70 years old.
Former Mountain Cats wrestler Isaac Greeley, who was on both of Pecora’s NCAA Division II national championship teams in 1996 and 1999, texted former teammates and other supporters in the Mountain Cat Wrestling Club Sunday: “Coach passed away peacefully with his family at 11:58 a.m. this morning. Love you guys, brothers for life.”
Greeley had been among a group of former Mountain Cats who assisted the Pecora family throughout the coach’s long stay at a Pittsburgh hospital earlier this year.
“It’s hard to articulate when someone basically dedicates their life to helping others,” Greeley said. “The remarkable thing about coach is once he considered you a ‘made man,’ he was with you for life.
“He held on to your rope and helped you as a man. He made it easy to talk to him,” Greeley said. “He always said the right things. His wisdom was really special. He taught us how to live. He showed us how to die, how to fight. He loved us all.”
In July, a GoFundMe drive to help the Pecora family with expenses related to his lengthy out-of-town hospital stay raised $55,440 through 410 donations to the “Never Let Go of the Rope!” page.
At that time, the outlook was bleak. Family, friends and the wrestling community braced for the worst, visiting Pecora in Pittsburgh to potentially say their goodbyes.
Unexpectedly, almost miraculously, Pecora’s health took a positive turn last month. Eventually, he returned home to Johnstown. A social media post showed him walking in therapy at a local hospital.
It provided another example of the coach’s strength and resiliency, as well as a determination to be with his large family – both through blood and through wrestling.
“He was in good shape. We had good conversations and we talked about the upcoming season,” said longtime wrestling official and retired Pitt-Johnstown administrator Bruce Haselrig, the program’s first wrestling coach. “Pat was looking strong and sounded real good. He said, ‘I’m battling. I want to be here for (wife) Tracy, my children and grandchildren.’”
For nearly 50 years, Haselrig has been a close friend of Pecora. Haselrig’s nephew, the late Carlton Haselrig, won six NCAA national championships under Pecora before an NFL career that included a successful stint as an offensive lineman with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“I was around Pat one time when he was talking to his team about his situation and said, ‘If not me, then who?’” Bruce Haselrig said. “He was not questioning things. He showed you how to continue to battle.”
Former Pitt-Johnstown Athletic Director Ed Sherlock hired Pecora in 1976 after his outstanding wrestling career at West Liberty State College in West Virginia.
“When I hired him, we were two years into the wrestling program,” Sherlock said. “I was looking for somebody that would grow with the program.
“Pat came in, and I think he was surprised to get the job because he was so young,” Sherlock said. “It was obvious to me right off the bat that he interacted very well with the wrestlers. He recruited well. He was demanding, but not pushy. He was good, right from the beginning.”
In 48 seasons as the Pitt-Johnstown wrestling coach, Pecora led the Mountain Cats to 661 wins and an .807 winning percentage (661-154-5). On Feb. 7, 2020, Pecora earned his 617th win and broke a 46-year-old record, becoming the all-time winningest coach in college wrestling at any level.
The National Wrestling Coaches Association named Pecora coach of the year four times (1995, 1999, 2019, 2022). His Mountain Cats won 25 NCAA regional titles and had a streak of eight consecutive Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) championships.
Pecora earned 22 regional coach of the year honors. He’s been inducted into nine halls of fame, including the Cambria County Sports Hall of Fame and the Pitt-Johnstown Athletics Hall of Fame.
“It was amazing to see how the program developed and how it grew,” Bruce Haselrig said. “We became very tight in terms of the whole relationship with Carlton. Pat’s first summer camp he did at UPJ, I took Carlton up there. He was a little pudgy kid in elementary school.”
The relationship grew, and eventually Carlton Haselrig transferred to Pitt-Johnstown after spending a year on the football team at Lock Haven University.
“Being able to have Carlton go to school there, I knew he’d get an education, he’d get a degree, because Pat would push him and watch him,” Bruce Haselrig said.
Pitt-Johnstown reached the summit in 1996 and 1999, winning the NCAA Division II team national championship both seasons. Pecora has led 170 NCAA All-Americans, 15 individual national champions who combined for 23 national titles.
“The amount of tears that have been shed are unfathomable,” said Shane Valko, a Forest Hills High School graduate who won a national championship and was NCAA Division II wrestler of the year in 2010 under Pecora.
“He was the closest thing to Superman for me,” said Valko, an assistant coach from 2010 to 2018 who recently rejoined the Pitt-Johnstown staff. “There are two people in my life that I consider on the heels of Superman – Coach Pecora and my father.
“We’ve had some serious conversations, working with him for eight years and wrestling with him for five years. I’ve known him since I was 5,” Valko said. “He’s been a person in my life I could turn to when I needed life advice. He’s a person I wish I can be.”
Pecora also took on the athletic director position at Pitt-Johnstown in 2008, helping the university navigate the process of joining the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.
Pecora’s dedication to Pitt-Johnstown was evident in 2003, when he turned down an offer to coach the University of Maryland at the NCAA Division I level.
“He had a good knack of giving you what you needed, depending on where you were in life and what you needed to hear,” Greeley said. “I’m just one of thousands – even people who didn’t wrestle for him – who can say that.
“It’s hard to tell people in words what he means to us as far as the magnitude he’s had on our lives and the brotherhood he’s formed at Pitt-Johnstown, and how much he cared for us as husbands, as fathers, as brothers.”
Valko pointed to the large number of former Pecora wrestlers who now coach. He also noted the numerous successful careers away from the mat, and most importantly, the family men.
“He has spread his coaching seed through us all over the country,” Valko said. “Even though he’s gone, he will never be gone. His ways, his traditions and his approach to wrestling will be spread throughout the country and throughout the wrestling world.”
Pitt-Johnstown President Jem Spectar said in a statement Sunday afternoon that the school was mourning “a great coach, teacher, colleague – a titan of a man and a champion of Olympic proportions. We extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends, and loved ones.”
Spectar added: “For over four decades, Coach P built a monumental legacy of athletics excellence, transforming Pitt-Johnstown into an unparalleled wrestling powerhouse that propelled legions of UPJ athletes to state, regional and national championships while also elevating and burnishing UPJ’s reputation.
He called Pecora “the personification of the fighting spirit of our Mountain Cat athletes, infusing the arena of competition with his characteristic resilience, relentless optimism, and indomitable will to prevail and triumph.”
“On and off the court, and even decades after his students graduated, Coach P guided, shaped, and transformed the lives of legions of UPJ athletes, turning boys into successful men, advising and guiding students to become successful, impactful citizens and leaders in all walks of life across the country,” Spectar said. “We were honored to have this extraordinarily great man as part of our community for nearly five decades, and our campus, community and world are better because of Pat Pecora.”
Pecora is survived by his wife, Tracy; grown children Cristina, Marco, Marina and Nico, and eight grandchildren.