All Americans
John Monaco
Karl Monaco
John Monaco, CHS 1982, Wrestling The Monaco brothers—Ernie, John, Robert and Karl—are a Clifton wrestling dynasty. While John and Karl both became competitive wrestlers thanks to their older brothers, John became the family’s first State Champ in 1982 as a Mustang at 171 pounds. This is from his induction in the Montclair State Athletic Hall of Fame: “It was a lucky day for Montclair State when John Monaco decided to transfer from Syracuse University because in three years, he rewrote the wrestling record book. Monaco was undefeated in all of his dual meets, was an All-American and won the national championship in Division III in 1985, 1986 and 1987. Due to Monaco and his teammates’ performances at the 1986 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships, the Indians won the team title for the second time in school history. Monaco also competed in the EastWest All-Divisions All-Star match in Oklahoma City after qualifying as one of the top-ranked wrestlers in the country.” Karl Monaco, CHS 1985, Wrestling Little brother Karl won the state tournament as a junior in the 135 1b. weight class after coming in second the year before. “During the final match, I was down 5-0 but came back to win. At no time did I feel I was going to lose. Even when I was down,” he recalled for his 2001 CHS Athletic Hall of Fame induction. “I was thinking: I have to figure a way to win this thing.” Monaco (110-8 career) didn’t allow a single takedown as a senior, an extraordinary feat that helped him win his second and fourth regional title. He also led the Mustangs to a three-peat at the Passaic County tournament.
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May 2021 • Cliftonmagazine.com
John Viola
John Viola, CHS 1984, Wrestling In a 2003 story, this is how Viola recalled his memorable Mustang moment: “As a 10-year-old, I went to Jadwin Gym at Princeton University and saw Herb Calvert become the first CHS wrestler ever to win a championship. A few years later, I was lucky enough to duplicate that feat in the same gym. And winning a wrestle-off with teammate Karl Monaco, another state champ, stands out as one of the toughest matches I ever had.” Wrestling was a family affair for the Violas. Older brothers Joe and Vin were Mustang wrestlers. “My four sisters were all wrestling managers at CHS and as gungho about wrestling as anybody. My sister Nancy, who was also a wrestling manager at Rutgers, would come home and show me moves she saw the college guys using.” He also credited his parents and rec coach LePage, who also coached at CHS, as mentors. A County, Regional and District champ for three years, he took the state title in 1984 at 130 lbs. “Wrestling at Clifton was like being part of a second family,” he recalled. “The families of former wrestlers stayed close to the sport and provided so much encouragement. Most of all, CHS athletics showed me that success wasn’t just about money.” After CHS, he wrestled at the University of Virginia and was team captain his junior and senior years. Richard Ceynowa, CHS 1986, Wrestling The Clifton Rec wrestling program under Coach Jack Whiting proved to be the foundation for Ceynowa. At CHS, “my peers David Szott and Brian Smith pushed me to always improve. Coach Steven LePage always brought out the best in people. No matter what