Mahwah Police Officer Wins National Grappling Title

When Mahwah Police Officer Rusty Read isn’t in uniform, you will likely catch him at the Tiger Schulmann’s headquarters in Elmwood Park, either teaching kids wrestling and jujutsu techniques, or training in them himself.

On June 18, all of that training paid off. Read won the 2011 Grapplers Quest U.S. National Grappling Championships, beating out nationally-recognized opponents in four rounds of grappling. He’ll keep the title for two years.

Grappler's Quest, founded in 1998, is "the World's Largest Submission Grappling and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Tournament Circuit," according to its website.

“This is definitely my passion,” said Read, who won in the Advanced 179-pound division.

“I grew up wrestling. I’ve been doing it since I was seven years old.”

Read scored 106 wins during his high school career, was ranked sixth in the country during high school, and was a 1994 New Jersey State Champion for Hawthorne High.

He attended Boston University on a full wrestling scholarship, was ranked tenth in the country, and was a two-time NCAA Division 1 Qualifier, in 1997 and 1998. Read completed his undergraduate and Master’s degrees at BU.

“I wrestled with a bunch of guys who went on to the Olympics, but I knew that it wasn’t the right route for me. I wanted to be a police officer.”

Today, Read has found a great way to balance all of his passions and talents.

In 2004, he opened Renaissance Wrestling, a school that operates out of Tiger Schulmann’s Mixed Martial Arts. Over the past seven years, the school has grown from a handful of students to over 60. So far, he has trained UFC champions, state and national wrestling champs, a bunch of his Mahwah PD colleagues, and his D.A.R.E. students.

“I really enjoy teaching kids, and I’m lucky that I get to incorporate that both into being a police officer and a wrestling coach,” he said.

As for his own grappling career, it seems far from over.

Read, who entered the Grapplers Quest competition this year because he “thought it would make him a better coach,” is thinking about competing at the world level.

“The worldwide competition is going to be in Abu Dhabi next year, and I am definitely considering it.”