See which locals are part of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame's newest induction class

At 5-foot-5, Chris Pacelli isn't a physically imposing presence. And Ron Brown describes his own wrestling career as "short and undistinguished."

Those humble beginnings didn't stop either of them from making an indelible mark in the sport that they love.

Pacelli, a former three-time sectional finalist at Braintree High, has gone on to forge a 40-plus-year career as a high school referee, which he began after a brief stint (1978-80) as coach at Brockton High. As for Brown, despite never wrestling at the varsity level in high school, he founded still-thriving programs at both Whitman-Hanson and BC High as a decorated coach.

On Saturday, their paths will cross at Gillette Stadium as part of the 2023 induction class of the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. They and the six other inductees will be enshrined in the State Chapter Gallery of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Museum in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

"Of course, it's the greatest honor of my coaching career to be recognized by the state and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame," said Brown, who will journey down from his home in Maine for the induction, skipping his 50th-year college reunion in the process. "I'm very much grateful and humbled."

"I feel quite honored," said Pacelli, who lives in Lakeville. "I've been in this sport for well over 60 years. (The Hall of Fame) is not something you try to get to, but it's quite an honor. And the fact that my great-uncle, Joe Streadwick, is going in at the same time is kind of cool."

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Streadwick, who will be inducted posthumously, was born in 1901 and was a successful AAU wrestler in the 1920s and 1930s. A former Quincy High assistant from 1975-87, his greatest gift to the sport came during his 55-year run (1927-1982) at the Quincy YMCA, where he introduced the sport to countless youngsters, including Pacelli.

"He and a couple of other guys like Von Lovejoy and Norm Collier coached at the Y," Pacelli said. "I started going there in elementary school and I got hooked on the sport. ... (Streadwick) was great at (teaching) the sport but he also was great at (teaching) diet and training. He had all these quirks about how to make a tuna burger (instead of a hamburger because it's healthier). We're talking about the 1960s and (he's preaching the importance) of good protein, good dieting. He was big on that. He really was (ahead of his time)."

Pacelli, 68, calls wrestling "a great sport for a little guy," and he should know. He competed in high school at 114 pounds and at Southern Connecticut State at 118.

"It certainly helped build my confidence," said Pacelli, who won a New England college crown as a senior and made two appearances in the NCAA tournament. "I was 95 pounds in middle school. I wore glasses. I played the violin. Get a picture of that. (Wrestling) allowed me to be an athlete, and I embraced it."

Brown grew up in the 1960s in wrestling-mad rural Pennsylvania, where his school (Bedford High) celebrated its first-ever state champ by cancelling school the next day to throw him a parade through town.

"It was 'Ron Hamilton Day,'" Brown said. "He was one of the few African Americans in our tiny town in the mountains of western PA and he was a local hero and still is to this day."

Bedford's coach, Hall of Famer Ed Clark, doubled as Brown's gym teacher, and even though Brown never was good enough to make his own mark on the mat, the lessons he got from Clark resonated.

"It was part of the fiber of a lot of wanna-be athletes at the time," Brown said. "In addition to a few other athletic endeavors, we wrestled and we drilled wrestling (in gym class). I knew many of the techniques and procedures, I just didn't have the athletic ability or the fortitude to carry that over to the mat. But it was always really, really important to me."

After not wrestling at Division III Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Brown was drawn back into the sport during his stint at Whitman-Hanson, where he was a social studies teacher and eventually rose to become athletic director. Fellow administrators found out he had wrestled (sort of) and asked if he wanted to start a program at the school.

There was no room to practice in the gym back then − this was before the current school was built − so Brown turned the cafeteria into an after-hours wrestling den.

"Then it was a matter of breaking down the tables every day, scrubbing the floor, scrubbing the mat," he recalled. "The woodshop teacher made crates that we could roll the mats into (to store them). The metal-shop guy made ramps so that we could get them up the short flight of steps up to the gym. We just leaned on a lot of my buddies who were coaches. I'd ask if they had guys who weren't doing anything (athletically) in the winter and I'd beat the drum in the hallways. I guess it worked out."

Brown's creation started as a JV program the 1977-78 season and graduated to varsity status the next winter. Among the alumni of that first team was future Whitman-Hanson coach Gary Rabinovitz, who just retired over the summer after seven years at the Panthers' helm; he went 23-13-3 over his last two seasons in charge.

After turning the Whitman-Hanson reins over to Bob Gay, Brown did the start-up thing again in 1986 at BC High, founding a program that would go on to great heights during his 13 years, winning 21 individual tournament titles and producing six MIAA Division 1 state finalists and three state champions.

"It was definitely easier the second time around," he said, "but every bit as satisfying to start something from scratch."

Brown retired from coaching after the 1998-99 season but remained as a teacher, guidance counselor and golf coach at BC High until his full retirement in June 2017.

Pacelli, on the other hand, is still hip-deep in the sport. When the commute to Brockton High from his home in Foxboro became too much, he turned to officiating in 1978 and is still going strong. One of the longest-tenured officials in the state, he's been a fixture at the famed Marshfield Holiday Tournament for 30-plus years.

"You hear the coaches" yelling at you, Pacelli said with a laugh. "Like in any sport, they're in your ear. But at a certain point you just look inside yourself and say, 'I've been here, I've done this. I know what I'm doing. I'm going to make the call and go with it.'"

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Three locals will be inducted into National Wrestling Hall of Fame