Jumper Leggio, longtime coach and wrestling Hall of Famer, dies at 89
Gombatista "Jumper" Leggio, who dedicated his life to wrestling, co-founded programs for wrestlers ages 5 through 14. Credit: Leggio Family
Gombatista "Jumper" Leggio was a builder of foundations. Whether he was working as a union bricklayer for more than 50 years or coaching Long Island’s young wrestlers in his KID programs, Leggio was setting foundations for the future.
Leggio, who co-founded those KID programs for wrestlers ages 5 through 14 in the eastern United States and dedicated his life to the sport, died from complications of pneumonia at Southside Northwell Health Hospital in Bay Shore on Jan. 5. He was 89.
“My father had a deep love for the sport of wrestling and made it his life’s work,” said Guy Leggio, of Bay Shore. “He competed and coached at every level of the sport. But for him it all started with the kids, and the creation of the KID programs around the country.”
Leggio spent countless hours teaching and promoting the sport to the youth of Long Island.
“He wanted to help young wrestlers understand the commitment and the proper techniques of a demanding sport,” said former Bay Shore state wrestling champion Mike Porcelli, who qualified for the Olympic Trials in 1988. “His commitment was deep — and his presence powerful. He always had wonderful words of encouragement. He lived five houses away from me and planted the seed when I was only 10 years old that the greatest thing you can do as a wrestler is represent your country and win the gold. He wanted you to strive to be your best.”
Known as "Jumper," he was born Gombatista Leggio in a house on Benjamin Street in Bay Shore in 1934 and lived in that area his entire life.
He earned consecutive Suffolk County wrestling championships in 1952-53 before graduating from Bay Shore High School in 1953. He enlisted in the United States Naval Academy, where he became a four-time USA Navy and Inter-Service champion from 1954-57. He met his wife, JoAnn Copeland, while stationed in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1956. They married in Bay Shore a year later and had four children.
After the Naval Academy, Leggio continued to compete. He pinned all seven of his opponents to capture the 1957 Junior Metropolitan Tournament title. In 1959, he earned a spot on Team USA and competed against Canada and Japan.
Leggio went on to officiate at the USA Olympic trials, Pan-Am Games and national freestyle championships in 1964. But his passion was for coaching and he started the wrestling program at Holy Family High School — now St. Anthony's — in South Huntington in 1967. He organized the first New York State Private High Schools wrestling championships in 1968 and Holy Family went on to win three titles.
Leggio was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1997 and the New York State Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1999. He coached the USA freestyle teams that competed against Europe and Asia before accepting a coaching position in Bay Shore schools from 1974 to 2003.
“He was like a second father to me,” said Andy Slawson, who works in Newsday's high school sports department and wrestled for Leggio at Bay Shore. “He treated the third-string wrestlers the same way he did the state champions. He felt every kid was important and worth his time. Jumper Leggio inspired ordinary wrestlers to do extraordinary things. He treated everyone with dignity and that’s why he was so loved."
TheA bricklayer by trade and a 50-year gold card member in the Bricklayers Union, Leggio was all about inclusion. His door to the Bay Shore wrestling room was always open to everyone from the surrounding towns.
“He allowed anyone that wanted to learn to work out in what we called the Bay Shore dungeon,” Porcelli laughed. “He helped everybody. If you loved wrestling and you worked hard, he would do anything for you. It didn’t matter what school you were from.”
Leggio also was an avid big- and small-game hunter. He liked to hunt on his property in upstate Gilbertsville.
“He was my best friend, and he could make me laugh,” Guy Leggio said. “My father was a lot of fun. He once shot a deer and tied it to a tree. I asked him why he tied it to the tree. He said he didn’t want to lose it. I just shook my head.”
Porcelli also has fond memories of his coach.
“We had a blizzard in 1978 and the plows never got to our block,” he said. “Coach Leggio got everyone in the neighborhood out and we shoveled the whole block. He could get people to do extraordinary things. I was lucky to be born in Bay Shore and blessed to have him as my coach.”
He is survived by his partner of 35 years, Marianne Porter; three brothers, Carmen, of Brentwood, Ralph, of Bay Shore, and Joe, of Bay Shore; his sons, Joe Leggio and wife Sue, of Pittsfield, Guy Leggio and wife Maryann, of Bay Shore, and Jumper Gombatista Leggio and wife Debbie, of Sonoma, California; nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
A viewing will be held at Chapey & Sons Funeral Home in East Islip from 4 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday. A funeral Mass will be held at 10:15 a.m. Wednesday at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in Bay Shore.
Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.