When James Fox was a freshman at St. Peter’s Prep, he could have never even begun to fathom all he would achieve by the time he would become a senior.
“It’s unbelievable,” Fox said. “I wouldn’t even have believed it myself.”
Fox had a great football season for the Marauders, earning Hudson Reporter All-Area for the second straight year as well as being named the Defensive Player of the Year.
But that’s almost small potatoes compared to what Fox earned last Sunday.
By defeating Dallas Winston of Jackson, 7-0, in the final round of the 189-pound state tournament, Fox became the first wrestler in Prep history and only the third ever from Hudson County to win a state championship.
Fox joined John Bott of North Bergen, who won the 171-pound state title in 1983, and David Cordoba of Kearny, who captured the 130-pound crown in 1999, as the only Hudson County wrestlers to win state gold.
Fox finished his year to remember with an unblemished 43-0 record.
“I’m still can’t believe this all happened,” Fox said. “It’s been a dream year, capped by an undefeated state championship wrestling season. I think having the great football season helped me confidence-wise. It just carried over to the wrestling season. It’s just been a total dream season and I’m so happy.”
Fox was asked if he could truly appreciate the historical perspective of his victory.
“That part hasn’t even dawned on me yet,” Fox said. “To be the first one from Prep to win a state title is truly a great accomplishment. Considering there have been so many great wrestlers from Prep and from Hudson County, it’s even more remarkable. It’s sinking in a little bit, with people congratulating me in school and all. It feels really good.”
Prep head wrestling coach Anthony Verdi recalls Fox entering the program as a freshman.
“He did have a little bit of wrestling experience before high school, but he was a year behind everyone in terms of age in his grade level,” Verdi said. “I figured at the time that he was probably the least likely of the freshmen to ever do anything. But James has matured so much in the past year. We all saw what he did during football season and that momentum from football just continued on into wrestling. You could see he was more matured by the way he carried himself.”
Verdi and Fox both agree that Fox’s confidence and stock both skyrocketed after Fox won the prestigious “Beast of the East” Tournament in Delaware. Fox went from being unseeded to earning the tourney’s Most Outstanding Wrestler award in early December.
“It definitely raised James up another level,” Verdi said. “That’s the point where he believed he could do this. He put in the training and the work to become a state champion and took it up a notch.”
“It was a huge confidence booster for me,” Fox said. “I went down to the ‘Beast’ to try to place and ended up winning it. It was huge. But it put a lot of pressure on me, because then I became state-ranked and had the huge motivation to stay on top. I worked hard all season.”
Fox said that he learned a lot from watching friend and former teammate Kevin Innis go through the rigors of trying to be a state champion last year. Innis went all the way to the 215-pound championship last year, but lost a tough decision in the finals.
“I love Kevin and he taught me so much,” Fox said. “The biggest thing I got from him was his work ethic. He always told me to keep going hard and go the extra yard in everything. Watching his determination and seeing what he did just motivated me to want to the same.”
Incredibly, Innis (now wrestling at Boston University) and Fox have enjoyed parallel lives. Both were the Hudson Reporter Defensive Players of the Year in football (Innis in 2009, Fox in 2010). Both had great wrestling careers that culminated in a chance to win a state championship.
“But now, I have the one up on him,” Fox said.
“It’s amazing how almost identical their two senior years were,” Verdi said. “Wrestling is such a mental sport. They spoke a lot about what it takes to win that last one. When you get to that level, it’s all mental. Fox had this swagger about him, this confidence that I never saw before. His poise was incredible and it showed.”
And now, St. Peter’s has its first-ever state champion.
“It’s really significant and it’s huge for Hudson County wrestling,” Verdi said. “It’s not a very popular sport and it gets overshadowed by other sports. We’re trying to build interest in the sport and this helps to put us on the map. We’ve had wrestling at St. Peter’s since 1973 and never had a state champ. We’ve had a lot of great wrestlers, but couldn’t get the big one.”
Verdi mentioned Konrad Dudziak, a three-time medal winner who went on to have an All-America college career at Duke, and Innis, who won two medals in Atlantic City, but didn’t win the title.
Verdi gave a lot of credit to the success of both Fox and Innis to their teammate, James Lancellotti, who trained with both.
“He worked out hard with both Innis and Fox and pushed them both so hard,” Verdi said.
The Marauders had their best performance ever at a state tournament, as Alex Richardson (fifth), Anthony Pafumi (fifth) and Francisco Colom (eighth) all earned medals as well. The most medals the Marauders ever previously collected in one state tournament was two in 2005, so they doubled their best output ever.
North Bergen also had a fine state tournament, with two wrestlers earning medals.
After having only two wrestlers ever to win state titles, Hudson County came very close to having two state champions crowned on the same day.
But North Bergen’s fabulous freshman Luis Gonzalez lost in the finals at 103 pounds, dropping a hard-fought 4-2 decision to Brendan Calas of Seton Hall Prep. Gonzalez had his chances to earn his own state title and came up just a little short.
Gonzalez’s teammate and workout partner Anthony Giraldo also had a great tourney, finishing fourth at 112 pounds.
So there were six different Hudson County wrestlers who earned medals at this year’s state tourney, including one who finally collected the grand prize.
Fox said that he dedicated his march to the state title to his friend, the late B.J. Giannone, who tragically passed away after competing in a swim meet in January. Fox told reporters that Giannone always told Fox he would win a state championship and after Giannone died, Fox promised he would win it for B.J. Truly, an inspirational story….
Condolences to the friends and family of long-time basketball referee and all-around good guy Jackie Cullinan of Hoboken, who died last week. Cullinan was a Hoboken fixture for ages and was beloved by everyone who knew him, even basketball coaches whose games Cullinan worked. That alone says a lot about a referee…
A special fundraiser will take place on Saturday, April 2, when the ‘DeStrong, Be Strong’ night is held to honor the late Bill DeFazio at Marist High School. All proceeds from the night, which will feature a sports memorabilia auction as well as a buffet dinner, will go to the Bill DeFazio Scholarship Fund, keeping the memory of the legendary basketball coach alive. For tickets and more information, contact Alice DeFazio at (201) 320-5500 or via email at adefazio@njcu.edu… – Jim Hague
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.