Al Feuz, the Wrestler, Official, Scorer, Friend
April 28, 1944 - June 6, 2010
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Al as we knew him in recent years
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Al the comedian |
Early Al |
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Sleepy State Official Al |
Scoring Team- Mike and Al |
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The 3 Musketeers at D-1 Nationals, Omaha, Nebraska, March 2010 |
The loss of Al Feuz hit everyone that knew him, and that includes multitudes, not just here in Section 6. While he was born in Montreal, he moved at age 5 to Springville, wrestled at Springville, was educated at Morrisville State Technical Institute, and returned to western New York where he worked and made his mark in the wrestling scene for the rest of his life. Starting out as a Section 5 Wrestling Official, where he served as President of the Officials, received the prestigious Leo Bernabi Award in 1979, presented to the "Official of the Year", and was instrumental in initiating the use of red and green armband for officiating. He continued the refereeing as a member of Section 6 after moving back to the Springville area in 1982, to take a position with the West Valley Demonstration Project, where he became laboratory supervisor, retiring in 2006. During his refereeing career he work not only high school wrestling, but also college. Between 1985 and 2008 he worked the freestyle and greco wrestling at the Empire Games.
He was selected to referee the NYS Championships 5 times, between 1979 and 1991, representing either Section 5 or Section 6. He became interested in computer scoring of wrestling tournament, and was one of the first in New York State to bring high tech scoring into the wrestling scene. He was in great demand by the large tournaments directors, and not only scored the NFWOA tournament for over a decade, as well as several Sectional Qualifying Tournaments and the New York State Tournament (3 times), but the colleges also made use of his expertise. He was in demand by the NY colleges and worked several years at the tournaments hosted by NCCC, RIT, Ithaca College, and Cornell. He worked the NYS Collegiate Tournament in 2010. He also worked other major college tournaments in the Eastern US, one of his last was at the huge Southern Scuffle at The University of North Carolina, at Greensboro.
Al was extremely active in community events at Springville. At his church, St Aloysius Roman Catholic Church, he was chair of a number of events, monthly bingo caller, and a member of theie Folk Group Choir. He participated in Town of Concord programs that assisted the elderly, and rode in "Ride For Roswell" bikethons.
Al is, and will continue to be, sorely missed by the wrestling community of Western NY. His contributions to the sports have been enormous.