The Connecticut Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame honored nine men at the Mohegan Sun. From left, Diane D’Alessio, standing in her late husband, Dave; Andrea Southland, standing in for her late husband, Ray; Fritz Blasius; Shirzad Ahmadi; Drew Black; Gerry deSimas; Dave Green; Chris Piel and Ted Oczkowski. (Photo courtesy Alan Spaluding)
UNCASVILLE, Conn., April 26, 2025 — Nine new members were inducted into the Connecticut Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame before a record crowd of more than 650 people on Saturday night at Mohegan Sun.
Shirzad Ahmadi, Drew Black, Fritz Blasius, David D’Alessio, Gerry deSimas, Jr., David Green, Ted Oczkowski, Chris Piel and Ray Southland were recognized for their service to the sport of wrestling with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
They join 51 other men and women in the Connecticut Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Lee Roy Smith, executive director of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, attended the event. “We believe that each of our honorees has a story worth preserving and sharing at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum,” he said.
“Each inductee’s story represents not only the success of the person enshrined by the state chapter but also the lives changes and positively impacted because of the honoree’s commitment and passion for the great sport of wrestling,” Smith said.
Ted Oczkowski, left, and his wife, Jo, are introduced at the banquet. (Photo courtesy Connecticut Chapter)
Ahmadi has been wrestling for more than 60 years since he was introduced to the sport as a teen-ager in Iran. He has been a head coach at the Division I level (Hartford), Division II level (American International College), high school level (Stafford, Bloomfield) and an assistant coach at the Division III level (Trinity, Western New England).
Since 2014, he has been a coach at Trinity where he still wrestles with the kids each day. He brought his wrestling shoes to the banquet, dropping them on the stage as he began to speak. He told the audience that he would be ready to practice should anyone want to take him up on it.
Black, a long-time head coach at Wesleyan University, was honored along with Fritz Blasius, a former Holy Cross High wrestler, who has financially supported many wrestling programs and trips. Blasius has a long history of making donations to worthwhile organizations throughout the greater Waterbury area. Black has been the head coach at Wesleyan for 27 years and has the most dual meet wins (240) in program history. His Cardinals, who won a New England title in 2012, have qualified wrestlers for the NCAA Division III national tournament in 14 of the last 18 years.
DeSimas has been covering wrestling and a variety of sports for more than 40 years. He is the author of the state wrestling record book and owns and operates Connecticut Wrestling Online, which covers wrestling throughout the state.
Nonnewaug coach David Green was recognized and joins his long-time assistant coach John Lawless in the Connecticut Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. Green has been the head coach at Nonnewaug since 2000 and his teams have won more than 300 dual meets, a league-record 14 Berkshire League championships and a Class S state title in 2005.
New Milford’s Chris Piel was recognized for his 27 years of coaching in New Milford with Ted Oczkowski of Oxford being recognized for his 50 years in the sport as a participant, coach, official and administrator.
Oczkowski has coached four teams in Connecticut (Holy Cross, Bunnell-Stratford, Bridgeport Central and Trumbull) and took over two programs after hazing incidents. He served as an official in Connecticut and Washington, was the athletic director at New Milford and member of the CIAC Wrestling Committe. Piel has been coaching wrestling for more than 27 years and has spent the last 17 years as the head coach in New Milford where the Green Wave have won five state championships, 15 SouthWest Conference titles and more than 200 dual meets.
The late Dave D’Alessio was recognized for his contributions to wrestling at Hand in Madison while the late Ray Southland was recognized for his contributions to the sport (coaching and officiating) and to his students in Meriden. D’Alessio’s teams at Hand won more than 300 matches, 10 Southern Connecticut Conference titles and a Class M state championship in 1995. Southland was an official for 33 years but also coached at Maloney for four years and served as an athletic director. He was principal of Washington Middle School in Meriden when he passed.
Diane D’Alessio stood in for her husband, Dave who passed away in 2020, with Andrea Southland standing in for her husband, Ray, who passed away in 2019.
More on each inductee can be found in the banquet program.
The ceremony ended with each recipient getting a green Hall of Fame jacket together on stage.
Learn more about each inductee: Banquet program
Watch your favorite speeches: Video of the banquet
Seven of the nine honorees made introductory videos before their speeches.
Shirzad Ahmadi
Fritz Blasius
Dave D’Alessio
Gerry deSimas, Jr.
Ted Oczkowski
Chris Piel
Ray Southland
Founder and website owner Gerry deSimas, Jr., has been on the executive committee of the Connecticut Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame since the chapter was re-established by Ted Oczkowski in 2009.
