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John Conway

Class of 2016
Mont Pleasant Red Raiders, Official
John Conway had a specific you could say official objective in mind when he stepped down as Duanesburgs varsity wrestling coach following the 1999-2000 season.

I gave up the program because I wanted to [officiate] states, Conway said. I went there as a wrestler, as an assistant coach and as a head coach, and I wanted to work those matches. I ended up going five times. I had no idea later on that Id be doing matches with Iowa, Missouri and Oklahoma.

The Mont Pleasant graduate was honored for his stellar work as a wrestling referee when he was among the inductees into the Section 2 Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Conway, who teaches physical education at Duanesburg, worked for 30 years as a Section 2 official and for 15 years as a collegiate official.

High on his wish list was overseeing those state-meet matches, but he had things to accomplish first at Duanesburg, where he ran its mat program for 10 seasons. In his final season, the Eagles captured the Section 2 Class D title.

Conway said, as a varsity coach at the time, he was not eligible to officiate sectional and state-level matches.

After reaching a goal as a wrestling coach here at Duanesburg, which was to win a section title, Conway moved on to his other love: He stopped coaching to fulfill his passion as an official, and got to a level he never expected.

Conways high school officiating resum includes 12 Northeast Duals.

At the collegiate level, Conway worked the Brockport/Oklahoma Gold Tournament 13 times, and officiated matches with Iowa and Missouri when the Hawkeyes were ranked No. 1 in the country. Conway ended his officiating career in 2016.

Conway assisted Duanesburg varsity coach Matt Sitors this past season. For three seasons, from 2011-14, he assisted then-Eagles varsity coach Joe Bena.

Conway won a Section 2 wrestling championship during his senior year in 1975 at Mont Pleasant, and later placed fifth in the state. He was the Red Raiders head wrestling coach in 1984-85, served as an assistant at Spencerport for three seasons from 1985-88 and was Guilderlands head coach during the 1988-89 and 1989-90 campaigns when he worked with DeMeo Award-winner Chip Foster.

Conway also played varsity baseball at Mont Pleasant and later excelled as a national-level softball pitcher with two All-American awards. He continues to coach varsity golf and softball at Duanesburg. His softball team hasnt lost a Western Athletic Conference game since the 2009 season.