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DiNovi one Hall of a guy

Thursday, November 02, 2006

By Bill Evans

billevans@sjnewsco.com

Occasionally, Brett DiNovi's career and athletic past cross paths. The only state wrestling champion in the history of Williamstown High School, DiNovi is self-employed as a Behavior Analyst. He recently turned one of his clients toward wrestling and even helped tutor him in the sport. "The student was a kid with ADHD and behavioral challenges, and he started wrestling in the WashingtonTownship (youth) program," said DiNovi, who lives in Mantua. "It seemed to help him to focus his energy towards wrestling. It was nice to see how wrestling helped him and to see him have success. I'd like to do more in terms of coaching, but it's been a hectic year and I haven't had a lot of time."
DiNovi will be inducted into the South Jersey Wrestling Hall of Fame on Saturday as part of an eight-member class which also includes Paulsboro graduate Matt Suter and West Deptford product Mark Reid. DiNovi won his 125-pound state title as a senior in 1988, capping a career in which he went 114-7-1, captured three district titles, two region crowns and finished in the top four in the state three times. To win the state crown, DiNovi had to knock off Long Branch's Sam Cole, the defending state champion who had beaten DiNovi the year before. "I watched video tapes for a whole year, and I was ready for him," said DiNovi. "I still remember not even sleeping the night before. It put some closure to my high school career." DiNovi went on to an injury-plagued career at West Virginia, where he nonetheless had the opportunity to wrestle under bronze medalist Nate Carr. Mr. DiNovi's graduate program advisor was Julie Vargas, whose father, B.F. Skinner, was the founding father of behavioral psychology. Her classes led him to a rewarding, yet challenging career. "It's pretty phenomenal to be able to help some kids," said DiNovi. "In the field, I mostly work with kids with autism. There are days you don't see concrete results, but you appreciate sometimes seeing the smallest signs of progress." As he approaches his induction, DiNovi's thoughts are turning to his father, who passed away a few years ago but helped DiNovi get started in the sport. "One of my biggest memories is a tournament I wrestled in Delaware in eighth grade," said DiNovi. "The tournament wasn't a really big deal and everything was going wrong. I lost my first match, the maintenance guy locked me in the locker room, I left my shoes home, forgot my singlet. "But my father instilled the discipline in me to want to come back and take third, and I had to win nine more matches, but I did it." In the future, DiNovi would like to stay involved in the sport, instill the same discipline in other young wrestlers. If the opportunity came with another client, he would embrace the opportunity, but he also wouldn't mind returning to his alma mater to help out in some capacity.

"It's a real honor to be the only state champion in school history," said DiNovi. "But it would be nice to coach another one."