Paul Pietropaolo’s interest in wrestling began at home. His older brother, Jim, would come home after wrestling practice and try out all his new moves on Paul and his brothers. Most evenings, the living room furniture would be cleared away and the boys would “go at it”. This fraternal competition, combined with Nanuet’s Saturday morning wrestling program, gave Paul his start in wrestling.

By the time he reached high school, wrestling had become a passion for Paul. He went on to establish himself as one of the premier wrestlers in Rockland County history. His accomplishments were extraordinary. Paul was the first Rockland County wrestler to reach 100 career victories, and held the record for most victories (106) when he graduated. In high school Paul was undefeated in the Rockland County dual meets with a record of 35-0. Along the way, Paul was a three time Rockland County tournament champion and a four time Section 9 champion. In 1976 Paul was voted the Most Outstanding Wrestler in the Rockland County tournament and placed three times in the New York State tournament, including a second place finish in 1975. In 1976 Paul was a member of the Section 9 team representing the USA against the Polish Junior Olympic Freestyle Wrestling team.

After graduation from Nanuet High, Paul continued his career at Cornell University, earning four varsity letters in wrestling. In his senior year, Paul was named “Wrestler of the Meet” at the Princeton University tournament. In 1980 Paul placed third in the United States Wrestling Federation Pennsylvania Regional tournament. Paul was best known as a wrestler, but his accomplishments reach beyond the mat. While in high school he played varsity soccer for two years and was the captain of the team in his senior year. In the spring Paul was a member of the very successful Nanuet track team. In his junior and senior years that track team was the Rockland County and Section 9 Class B Champions. Paul competed in the pole vault and 220 yard dash.

Professionally, Paul, the holder of degrees in landscape architecture from Cornell and a M.B.A in marketing from Iona College, works for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. He is the engineer for capital security projects and is involved with the reconstruction of the World Trade Center Paul is a survivor of both the 1993 and the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. He was awarded The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Civilian Commendation Award for Bravery, for actions taken on September 11, 2001, concerning the evacuation of staff from the World Trade Center.

Paul and his wife Susan have two daughters, Jill aged 20, a student at Villanova, and Amanda, an 18 year old senior at Clarkstown South High School. They are still county residents, residing in New City.