HUGH PEERY, Pittsburgh ’54 was left behind halfway through high school in Tulsa when father Rex Peery became head coach in Pittsburgh. Hugh won two OK state titles before enrolling at Pitt to re-join the family, just what the doctor ordered after Dad’s 0-10 season debut in 1949-50.  Hugh finished 56-1 from 1952-54 and matched Rex’s three NCAA titles, all at 115, by winning his last 48 bouts. At three Nationals, his only close bout was a 6-5 semis win in 1954 on riding time vs. Iowa’s Terry McCann, who won the next two years and became Olympic champion in 1960. Hugh won gold at the 1951 Pan Am Games in Argentina and placed sixth in the 1952 Olympics at Helsinki.

      Said brother, Ed: “Hugh was the technician. Unlike me, he was slick and exacting with outstanding skills. Seemingly every move was planned and executed perfectly.” A half century after graduation, Hugh still thoroughly enjoyed practicing dentistry  in his office home near Pittsburgh, while golfing locally and in Hilton Head, SC.