SUNY Potsdam Athletics

SUNY Potsdam Hall of Fame Wrestler Tony Peraza '76 claimed his fifth U.S. Open Masters Freestyle Championship on April 24, 2019. Peraza defeated Jeff Davis, a former world champion last Wednesday, to claim the Division E 88 kg. title for the 61-70 age group.
 
Peraza, 64, has won freestyle championships in 2002, 2003, 2005, 2015 and this year. His sixth national championship was for Greco-Roman style in 2004. Peraza also claimed world championships in Athens in 2015 and Poland in 2016. After his consecutive world titles, he took some time off to recover from bicep tendon and rotator cuff surgeries before preparing to hit the mats again this year. He's also overcome sciatica and knee injuries.
 
Last Thursday, past and present world champions were honored, including Peraza and his former teammate and fellow Potsdam Athletics Hall of Famer Keith Lyndaker. Lyndaker, who roomed with Pereza his senior year, captured the 70 kg. Greco-Roman style world championship in Las Vegas on Dec. 1. (Read the Watertown Daily Times Article about Lyndaker here.)
 
While at Potsdam, Peraza proved to be one of the greatest athletes to put on a Bears uniform. As a freshman during the 1972-73 season, Peraza helped guide the Bears to the SUNYAC Championship with his individual 142-pound conference title and a 21-2 overall record. In 1974-75 he earned All-American status as the national runner-up and helped the Bears to a fourth place finish at the NCAA Championships. He repeated as an All-American in 1975-76 and became SUNY Potsdam's second National Champion ever. He graduated from Potsdam in 1976 with a degree in Biology and a 96-19 record on the mats.
 
After Potsdam, he coached at Ithaca College, Cortland High School, Commack North Senior High School, Shoreham-Wading River High School, Mt. Sinai High School and Newfield High School. Peraza taught Biology, Chemistry and Earth Science during his 32-year career as a teacher on his native Long Island. Now retired, he is coaching at Longwood again, his high school alma mater.
 
He was inducted into the Bears Hall of Fame in 1986 and the New York State Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2002.