David Camaione, a Hall of fame high school and collegiate official, has died at the age of 87.
David N. Camaione, a professor and administrator at UConn and Central Connecticut State for nearly 30 years, who was inducted into the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Officials Hall of Fame in 1998, has died at the age of 87.
Camaione was a Big Ten champion wrestler at Ohio State in 1960 and wrestling coach at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois, before coming to Connecticut in 1969. He was a high school and collegiate wrestling official from 1961 to 1986.
While in Connecticut, he served several years as the official rule’s interpreter for the New England Intercollegiate program, according to his biography when inducted in the New York Section III Hall of Fame in 2024. He officiated several NEIWA championships as well as two EIWA (Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association) tournaments.
He was selected to officiate in 15 NCAA wrestling tournaments, eight at the Division I level, five at the Division III level and two at Division II level.
From 1969-1980, he was a professor in Health and Physical Education at Central Connecticut State, where he helped develop a highly acclaimed undergraduate program in Exercise Science.
From 1980-1997, he was on the faculty at UConn first as Department Head of Kinesiology, then Director of the Center for Health Fitness, and even served as Acting Dean of the School of Education. Working with the Departments of Athletics and Residential Life at UConn, he created Fitness Shops in dorms and Hawley Armory and a university-wide Fitness for Life program that served faculty, staff, and students.
He passed away on April 5, just two days after his wife of 64 years, Judy, passed. He survived by their three children and seven grandchildren and his older brother, Mariano.
Camaione graduated from Watertown (N.Y.) High in 1956 where he was an outstanding three-sport athlete (cross country, wrestling, track). He attended Ohio State where he wrestled three years for the Buckeyes, winning the Big 10 title at 123 pounds in 1960. The outstanding wrestler at the 1960 Big 10 tournament, he was 41-9 at OSU and was inducted into the school’s athletic Hall of Fame in 2010.
From 1961-68, he was the head wrestling and tennis coach for MacMurray College. His wrestling teams had three top 20 finishes in the NCAA Division II championships, including a seventh place finish in 1965. His teams had four All-Americans and one NCAA D2 national champion. He was inducted into MacMurray College’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1989.
In 1963, Camaione said he was selected to be the color commentator on the first broadcast of the NCAA Division I national championships from Kent State University on ABC’s Wild World of Sports.
He also served as volunteer coach for the Kellam High program in Virginia Beach, Va., from 2006-12.
