M r. Clean at FDU ––– Story by Bill Kennedy ––– Stewart Pruzansky has lived in Clifton for 24 years. Long before he became a resident of the Horseshoe City, however, he was well known to some residents. Pruzansky’s reputation came by way of Passaic, where he was a championship scholastic wrestler before graduating from Passaic High School in 1967. After that, he had an even more distinguished wrestling career at Fairleigh Dickinson University, which in September made Pruzansky only the second wrestler in its history to be inducted into its Division I Hall of Fame. During the 1960s, Clifton and Passaic High School were very competitive in wrestling, with both schools producing a number of championship wrestlers. Richard Davis and Mark Stein were the Mustangs who faced Pruzansky on the mat in dual meets, invitational competition and NJSIAA sectional tournaments.
From the March 21, 1971 edition of The Record.
Pruzansky, who started as a 98-pounder and “bulked up” up to 106 as a senior, never lost to a Clifton wrestler. That did not mean they were enemies, but rather pretty friendly rivals. “At the parties we attended in those days,” said Pruzansky, 58, “there were a lot of Clifton guys and a lot of Passaic guys. They all used to come to our matches.” And over the years, some of those friendships have lasted. “I'm still very good friends with Gary Redish and Jack Whiting,” he said of Clifton wrestlers he befriended. “I go to some of the clinics and programs at Clifton High that Jack runs. I show the kids some of the moves that I had when I was competing.” Pruzansky, whose high school wrestling scrapbook contains many photos of him looking like he’s not old enough to be in grades 10-12, never won a state or regional championship. “I wasn’t big or strong,” he said. But he could wrestle and possessed technique, which was good enough for him to win invitational, conference and sectional tournaments. “I was just a little kid. Hey, I didn’t shave until I was 21.” Wrestling was a family thing (there was a wrestling mat in his Passaic home), which is how Stewart, the third of four brothers, became involved. His oldest brother, Joel, now 65, never wrestled as a high school athlete because the Hebrew school he attended did not have the sport. But Joel did pick it up and joined the team at Yeshiva University. “Joel had no previous experience, but won about 90 percent of his matches in college,” Stewart said. “My brother Dave was the best in the family,” he said of the 60-year-old who was a state champion at Passaic and a national champ at Temple. He paused, and then said with a wry smile: “Lenny (now 56), the youngest, was pretty good, too. But I was better than him.” When Stewart Pruzansky got to college, he was undefeated in freshman competition, so he was asked January 2008 • Clifton Merchant
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