University of Pittsburgh Athletics
The Peery Family
8/21/2019 7:40:00 PM | General
When Rex Peery accepted the Pitt wrestling head coaching position in 1949 he knew he would have to move his family to Pittsburgh. So, he bought a house in Baldwin and he, his wife, one of his two sons and his daughter made the move.
What he did not know was that Pittsburgh high schools were not like the high schools the Peery family was accustomed to in Oklahoma. Many of the high schools in Pittsburgh didn't have wrestling teams, including Baldwin High School, the school his younger son Ed would be attending.
So, the Peery family immediately began building a house in Shaler, the school district with the strongest wrestling program in the area at the time.
"It's a priority event, priority sport for us," Ann Peery Ritter, Rex's daughter and Hugh and Ed's younger sister, said. "My dad was a wrestler and a coach, both for high school and for college, and my brother Hugh was a wrestler and also an assistant coach at the Naval Academy and Ed wrestled and was the head coach at the Naval Academy for a long time."
Hugh was the only child who was missing from the move to Pittsburgh. He was finishing his senior year in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where the family had resided prior to the move. Going into his senior year, Hugh was a two-time Oklahoma state wrestling champion and president of his senior class.
But after his senior that year, Hugh joined his family in Pittsburgh and his father at Pitt, marking the beginning of an era and a legacy that will now live on forever in Pitt's Hall of Fame.
Rex, Hugh and Ed each won three NCAA Championships, giving the Peery family a total of nine NCAA Championships.
"I think their biggest accomplishment was that all three of them won three NCAA titles," Peery Ritter said. "I honestly can't tell you another family that is involved in wrestling that has done that and that was really an achievement."
The ninth and final championship may have been the most special. It was the last NCAA Championship the Peery family would win and it was done in their hometown of Pittsburgh. To this day Peery Ritter believes the NCAA had the championships at Pitt that year because there was going to be a record that may never be reached again by a family.
To earn the win, Ed beat a wrestler from Oklahoma State in a referee's decision after finishing with three seconds more riding time.
Wrestling was always a family affair for the Peery's. Rex started teaching his boys about the sport from a young age.
"One of my favorite pictures of my dad and my brother Hugh, my dad is in his Oklahoma State practice uniform and he's kneeling down with my brother Hugh who would have maybe been a year old," Peery Ritter said. "And he's showing Hugh a wrestling move at that time."
And when she was old enough, Peery Ritter also started getting involved by traveling to all of the matches she could. When her dad and brothers were on the road during their time at Pitt, Perry Ritter was with them.
In fact, her dad, who was usually quiet at matches, used Peery Ritter to his advantage. She was known as the team's "cheerleader" and all the athletes knew her voice. So, when someone started to get in trouble, her dad would ask her to yell directions to them.
"I would yell out what hold he should be using and that kind of thing," Peery Ritter said. "So I was always part of every match that went on."
She even got to yell out instructions to her brothers on occasion, but what she yelled was never the same because their wrestling styles were so different. Hugh was more of an artist when it came to the sport. He would plan every move he was going to do beforehand order to win.
Ed on the other hand, was more of a "bull in a china cabinet" according to Peery Ritter. His only plan going into a match was to win. He didn't know how he was going to do it, but he knew he was going to win and that is all that mattered.
Their wrestling styles also reflected who they were as people. Hugh was the quiet studious one who accomplished his life goal of becoming a dentist when he graduated from Pitt's dental school.
Ed was the louder, more rambunctious of the two. But he also took his studies seriously, graduating from Pitt's school of engineering with a degree in civil engineering.
Their father was a quiet man, who loved to be around people.
"His hobby was building houses and he would build them for sale, to sell," Peery Ritter said. "And we all had to work on the crews, no matter what we were doing, it was a family affair. And so we all worked together as a family as long as I can remember."
Rex worked hard to build a wrestling team from scratch and his sons were two corner stones of the team's success. If he were to see the team and program today, Peery Ritter thinks he would be proud.
She thinks her father and brothers would be even prouder to know the legacy they built will live on forever through their induction into Pitt's Hall of Fame.
"It's really quite an honor that will happen and they all worked hard to get that legacy, so that makes it even sweeter that Pitt is honoring them like this and that their name will always be there for people to see," Peery Ritter said. "I think they all would have been excited and I think they all would have been very proud, but they also would have been very humble about it."
2019 PITT HALL OF FAME
The 2019 Pitt Athletics Hall of Fame Class was unveiled June 13, 2019 by Pitt's Director of Athletics Heather Lyke. The 12-member group is composed of All-Pros, All-Americans and legendary all-time greats.
The 2019 class will receive induction at the Pitt Hall of Fame Dinner on Friday, Sept. 20, at the Petersen Events Center. On Saturday, Sept. 21, the inductees will be introduced at Heinz Field when the Panthers host UCF. For Hall of Fame Dinner ticket information, contact Executive Director for Signature Events and Donor Experience Allison Rubin by phone (412-648-0345) or email (arubin@athletics.pitt.edu).
For more information of the Pitt Athletics Hall of Fame, visit pittsburghpanthers.com/halloffame.
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What he did not know was that Pittsburgh high schools were not like the high schools the Peery family was accustomed to in Oklahoma. Many of the high schools in Pittsburgh didn't have wrestling teams, including Baldwin High School, the school his younger son Ed would be attending.
So, the Peery family immediately began building a house in Shaler, the school district with the strongest wrestling program in the area at the time.
"It's a priority event, priority sport for us," Ann Peery Ritter, Rex's daughter and Hugh and Ed's younger sister, said. "My dad was a wrestler and a coach, both for high school and for college, and my brother Hugh was a wrestler and also an assistant coach at the Naval Academy and Ed wrestled and was the head coach at the Naval Academy for a long time."
Hugh was the only child who was missing from the move to Pittsburgh. He was finishing his senior year in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where the family had resided prior to the move. Going into his senior year, Hugh was a two-time Oklahoma state wrestling champion and president of his senior class.
But after his senior that year, Hugh joined his family in Pittsburgh and his father at Pitt, marking the beginning of an era and a legacy that will now live on forever in Pitt's Hall of Fame.
Rex, Hugh and Ed each won three NCAA Championships, giving the Peery family a total of nine NCAA Championships.
"I think their biggest accomplishment was that all three of them won three NCAA titles," Peery Ritter said. "I honestly can't tell you another family that is involved in wrestling that has done that and that was really an achievement."
The ninth and final championship may have been the most special. It was the last NCAA Championship the Peery family would win and it was done in their hometown of Pittsburgh. To this day Peery Ritter believes the NCAA had the championships at Pitt that year because there was going to be a record that may never be reached again by a family.
To earn the win, Ed beat a wrestler from Oklahoma State in a referee's decision after finishing with three seconds more riding time.
Wrestling was always a family affair for the Peery's. Rex started teaching his boys about the sport from a young age.
"One of my favorite pictures of my dad and my brother Hugh, my dad is in his Oklahoma State practice uniform and he's kneeling down with my brother Hugh who would have maybe been a year old," Peery Ritter said. "And he's showing Hugh a wrestling move at that time."
And when she was old enough, Peery Ritter also started getting involved by traveling to all of the matches she could. When her dad and brothers were on the road during their time at Pitt, Perry Ritter was with them.
In fact, her dad, who was usually quiet at matches, used Peery Ritter to his advantage. She was known as the team's "cheerleader" and all the athletes knew her voice. So, when someone started to get in trouble, her dad would ask her to yell directions to them.
"I would yell out what hold he should be using and that kind of thing," Peery Ritter said. "So I was always part of every match that went on."
She even got to yell out instructions to her brothers on occasion, but what she yelled was never the same because their wrestling styles were so different. Hugh was more of an artist when it came to the sport. He would plan every move he was going to do beforehand order to win.
Ed on the other hand, was more of a "bull in a china cabinet" according to Peery Ritter. His only plan going into a match was to win. He didn't know how he was going to do it, but he knew he was going to win and that is all that mattered.
Their wrestling styles also reflected who they were as people. Hugh was the quiet studious one who accomplished his life goal of becoming a dentist when he graduated from Pitt's dental school.
Ed was the louder, more rambunctious of the two. But he also took his studies seriously, graduating from Pitt's school of engineering with a degree in civil engineering.
Their father was a quiet man, who loved to be around people.
"His hobby was building houses and he would build them for sale, to sell," Peery Ritter said. "And we all had to work on the crews, no matter what we were doing, it was a family affair. And so we all worked together as a family as long as I can remember."
Rex worked hard to build a wrestling team from scratch and his sons were two corner stones of the team's success. If he were to see the team and program today, Peery Ritter thinks he would be proud.
She thinks her father and brothers would be even prouder to know the legacy they built will live on forever through their induction into Pitt's Hall of Fame.
"It's really quite an honor that will happen and they all worked hard to get that legacy, so that makes it even sweeter that Pitt is honoring them like this and that their name will always be there for people to see," Peery Ritter said. "I think they all would have been excited and I think they all would have been very proud, but they also would have been very humble about it."
2019 PITT HALL OF FAME
The 2019 Pitt Athletics Hall of Fame Class was unveiled June 13, 2019 by Pitt's Director of Athletics Heather Lyke. The 12-member group is composed of All-Pros, All-Americans and legendary all-time greats.
The 2019 class will receive induction at the Pitt Hall of Fame Dinner on Friday, Sept. 20, at the Petersen Events Center. On Saturday, Sept. 21, the inductees will be introduced at Heinz Field when the Panthers host UCF. For Hall of Fame Dinner ticket information, contact Executive Director for Signature Events and Donor Experience Allison Rubin by phone (412-648-0345) or email (arubin@athletics.pitt.edu).
For more information of the Pitt Athletics Hall of Fame, visit pittsburghpanthers.com/halloffame.
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