Mocco named national wrestler of year
North Bergen standout named Schultz Award winner as top scholastic wrestler in country
North Bergen resident Steve Mocco was named recently as the Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award winner, meaning he’s the best high school wrestler in the nation.
Mocco, who wrestled at Blair Academy in Blairstown in Warren County, received his award last month in Stillwater, Oklahoma, at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. The award was based on Mocco’s brilliant high school career, in which the heavyweight posted a record of 216 victories against just one loss over four years, with 187 of those wins coming via pin.
The award, based equally upon wrestling success, academic achievement and citizenship/community service, is named after the late Olympic and World wrestling champion, who was tragically murdered five years ago. The Board of Governors from the National Wrestling Hall of Fame selected Mocco as the national winner of the award.
Mocco has also been active as a volunteer at the Hamilton Park Health Care Center. He volunteers his time as a youth counselor and wrestling instructor, teaching the kids about good health, study habits and wrestling techniques. He also graduated from Blair Academy with a 3.8 grade point average and was a member of the school’s honor roll.
During Mocco’s tenure at Blair, he won four state and national prep school wrestling championships, was twice the Junior National freestyle champion and won the National High School Coaches Association national title in April.
The NHSCA also named Mocco the national wrestler of the year as well.
Now, to some people, this might not seem like a huge story. After all, Mocco accomplished all of this while competing at a school outside of Hudson County. So that has to taint it all, right?
Guess again.
There has never been a Hudson County athlete, in any sport, that has achieved the greatness of Steve Mocco at this point. Willie Banks won the Gatorade national baseball player of the year in 1987 and Bobby Hurley was named the Gatorade national basketball player of the year two years later. Both Banks and Hurley played high school sports at St. Anthony of Jersey City.
But Banks didn’t go 216-1 and Hurley played on a team that won the national championship. Mocco did it all on his own.
High school wrestling is totally mano-a-mano, with a strong spirit, mind and body necessary to be successful.
However, to achieve what Mocco has goes beyond any realm of imagination. No one goes 216-1 in wrestling. It’s unheard of. It’s unthinkable. On any level.
Then, Mocco goes as far as it can go on the high school level, taking on the best that the nation could offer. Yes, the entire country. And the best high school wrestler in the country is from our backyard, from North Bergen, from Hudson County.
Mocco has already signed a national letter of intent to wrestle at the University of Iowa in the fall. In fact, he’s already out in Iowa, getting ready to begin his college career, thus the reason why he couldn’t comment for this column. His mother said that he will be in Iowa until later this month, will return to North Bergen for three days, then will head to Russia for an international tournament in August, then back to Iowa to start school.
Pretty hectic schedule, huh? That’s what happens when you’re a national champion.
This is a young man that Hudson County should embrace with pride, recognize with astonishment and support to the highest degree. Because Steven Mocco will represent the United States in the 2004 Olympic Games. Count on it. He will get his chance to be a national hero, much like Rulon Gardner has become.
Heck, there are some wrestling experts who believe that Mocco is right now a better wrestler, more polished, more determined, than the media darling Gardner.
And how wild will it be when Hudson County has someone to follow in the Olympics, someone who has a strong chance to wear a gold medal around his neck? That is what lies on Steve Mocco’s horizon. A gold medal.
He already has it in sight. Chances are, he’ll get what he’s determined to get. Nothing has stopped him thus far.