I woke up Friday morning after an evening shift at the hospital fired up and ready for a great football weekend. There were some preparations before I set out for the first half of the weekend doubleheader. I needed to do some laundry, dishes, and get to the gym. I actually don’t mind folding laundry because anything that you can do in front of an episode of Blue Bloods or Yankee baseball game isn’t that really difficult. I got myself a bowl of cereal while the laundry was going and sat down to watch the latest ESPN 30 for 30 about the UFC and the rivalry between Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell. These documentaries are always well done and give you interesting perspective on unique sports stories. My “Wingman” this week Chris Kaplanis who has a unique sports story of his own which led me to Ridgewood New Jersey Friday night.
I have known Chris for 20 years. He is the only son of Steve Kaplanis. The man who gave me my first shot to be a high school football coach. Chris, proud Penn State Alum, lives in Ridgewood with his wife Elizabeth and two young kids Ashley and Cameron. He was a football player and an All-State Wrestler at Danbury High School. Chris and his wife are the co-founders of Ridgewood Triathletes. A business that trains and coaches people from all walks of life to reach their goals and compete in triathlons. This is not a surprise that Chris would be in this line of work and marry a decorated triathlete. Chris’s father Steve was a legendary coach, fitness guy, and a fixture on the elliptical machine at the War Memorial gym in Danbury Connecticut. In fact he would often tell you whether you were a player or a coach “I did my seven miles today, what did you do”. I have tried to make it a point to reconnect with people since I stopped coaching football. We get caught up in our everyday life you forget sometimes how long it’s been since you’ve seen or spoken with people.
I contacted Chris and asked if he like to join me for a Traveling Coach game. Chris seemed excited for the chance and recommended I come down to watch Ridgewood High School who at the time was undefeated and is also where his nephew plays football. I thought as I was folding laundry about when is the last time I saw Chris in person. Sadly, the last it was his Father’s funeral 14 years ago. Coach Kaplanis passed away at 50 years old in May of 2005. What made me think of this was a line in Blue Bloods were Tom Sellecks Character Frank Regan tells two siblings “if we only ever stop to see each other at weddings and funerals, It will haunt us forever”. There will be no regrets this Friday night.
I arrived in town a little early for my “Wingman” who was still finishing up work. I decided to drive through the neighborhood and check out the town. I drove by the high school where I saw the player from Ridgewood going through a walkthrough in the game jerseys. The high school is in the middle of the town. There are no buses in Ridgewood because the majority of kids walk to and from school. Just driving through town you could tell it was a close knit community to live in and raise a family. The weather was 56 degrees and overcast It should make for an excellent night for football.
Chris, two kids and two dogs greeted me when I arrived. It looked like a typical day in the life of young father in this day and age. We did some catching up as Chris fed the kids, offered me a beer, and zipped around the house just like his dad did on the sidelines 15 years ago. It was ironic that we were going to walk tonight to both the bar and then the game. Coach Kaplanis was one of the fastest walkers I have ever seen. I remember how much Coach hated traffic and had to constantly be on the go. I told Chris a story about the only Giants game I ever went to with him. The Giants were playing the Dolphins and Ricky Williams had just punched one in to put the game out of reach. I looked to my left and coach Kap was three quarters up the stairs already and the chase was on. I was sprinting through the parking lot weaving through the cars just to try and catch up. He was a man that was always trying to squeeze every second out of a day. Waiting in traffic was not an option. I was hoping when walking to the bar this evening Chris would shorten up his strides for me.
Our first stop was “The Office Tavern and Grill” I was accompanied by Chris and his friend, former WPI Quarterback, and Ridgewood triathlete trainee Chris Busso. The bar was pretty modern. It had a beer selection menu of 40 different beers posted behind the bar. The menu was standard fair but like a lot of bars I have encountered during this season it seemed to have an identity crisis. They appeared to want to be a brewery, sports bar, and a tavern but everything was toe in the water. As far as wings go they had some decent flavors. The apple butter BBQ seem like an intriguing sauce so I ordered a dozen and also an order of the mild. The conversation while we waited was about the Giants football, Daniel Jones, and the early returns on his play so far. The wings came out and looked decent but they definitely needed more sauce. When I think about apple butter BBQ sauce I figured it would be a thicker, smoother sauce that would coat the wings and have sweet and spicy tones to it. It was anything but that. The sauce was bland and tasted like a BBQ sauce that you can find at any store. The mild followed suit and was average. The texture of the wings was crispy but they were over cooked and dry. These where a 2.5 star recruit who was too slow to be a linebacker, too small to play Defensive line and clearly had some hydration issues. With game time approaching we made our way back toward Chris’s House.
We walked along the side walks down through a dark dirt path that led us to the
athletic fields. Ridgewood’s field was field turf, had great lighting, and
Maroon “R” on the 50-yard line. The stands were packed as they are most Friday
nights in New Jersey. We arrived just in time for Senior day ceremonies to
begin. Each senior walked out to the 50 to greet their families and present
their mother with flowers. Always a special moment at high schools across the
country. One of the seniors was Chris
and Elizabeth’s nephew inside linebacker and the team’s leading tackler Jack
Wittmaack. In the weeks leading up to my trip I got Jacks advanced scouting report
from Chris. He described him as an undersized linebacker with a high football
IQ and has a knack for always being around the football defensively. Sounds
very similar to Coach Kap and Chris. They both are the same way as players,
coaches, and people.
This is not only senior night but redemption night for The Maroons who entered the game 5-1. Last week they were defeated by Clifton high school getting handed their first loss of the season 13-0. Coaching wise this is one of the many scenarios you deal over the course of your tenure. How do you respond to a loss? During my time coaching you can take different approaches to this scenario. The approach depends on the personality of your team. In 1997 as a player at Immaculate High school we were 9-0 going into a matchup with New Milford High school. If we had won we would have made the conference championship game and the state playoffs. On icy snow covered field at Midtown Campus field at Western Connecticut we lost a heartbreaker. With 3:38 seconds to go New Milford connected on a 93 yard touchdown. We lost the game 7-6 to New Milford that night. This was Coach Kaplanis first season at Immaculate high school. He definitely showed us how to win but for the first time that year he had to show us how to face the adversity of losing. Learning how to bounce back from a loss was an underrated aspect of his coaching style. Probably because he rarely had to do it. The 1997 team played with a chip on his shoulder, so challenging us was the best cure for my teammates and I after a brutal loss. We had very aggressive practices after that and Coach Kap and the staff didn’t let us forget what we let slip away in the two weeks leading up the Thanksgiving finale. We ended up winning in a very chippy and physical football game to close the season 14-12 over ND of Fairfield. That team finished 10-1 and the following season we didn’t need much motivation playing New Milford beating them convincingly 44-0. I have coached teams since then that wouldn’t have responded to being challenged. What they needed to learn from that loss was to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and move on. Ridgewood’s opponent tonight has been tested all year. Kennedy High school is 3-3 this year and 5 of their 6 games have been decided by 8 points or less. They are led by dynamic running back Jamier Wright-Collins and needed a win to have any hope of getting into the playoffs. This was a must win for both programs.
The Maroons came out and played power football. They spent the majority of the game in their patent Wing T formation implemented by legendary coach Chuck Johnson. Coach Johnson has spent 37 years at Ridgewood. Last week was because of illness was the first ever game he missed. The pain of missing football game I’m sure is just as immense as any illness coach has to endure. On their first drive they honored the coach by going right down the field and scoring on the first drive of the game. The drive was highlighted by a 4th and 6 conversions when Senior QB Liam Tarleton hit fellow senior Tom Bourque with a first down strike. This huge conversion set up a 4 yard run by Rueben Pillai who scored the first of his two touchdowns on the night. The defense, which was led by Jack Wittmaack and Anthony Messineo, smothered the Knights running game all night. They played a discipline physical brand of football. This team played a very similar style of football to Coach Kap teams at Immaculate High School. They were undersized physical football team that played with a passion and edge to them that would have made Coach proud.
After a George Hadfield touchdown run in the second quarter to increase the lead to 14-0 the game became a back drop for some great conversation with an old friend. We talked about his father. I told Chris about the first time I met him at Immaculate. He came to the weight room at the high school to get to know some of the players better and see how off-season workouts were going. He asked me to name two games from the prior season that I felt I played my best in. Upon his review of the game he came back the next day and with a perplexed look on his face said “those were your two best games”. That one statement fueled me through the rest of the off-season. I convinced myself he thought I was a bad player and I was determined to prove this guy wrong. Until I became a football coach I never realized what coach was trying to do. He was challenging me. Challenging me to be better, push harder, and reach my potential. He didn’t do that to everybody because not everybody got motivated that way. He understood personalities and what a player needed. That first game in the 1997 season I played one of my best games. I intercepted a pass and went 53 yards for a touchdown. It was the first touchdown of Coach Kaplanis’ tenure at Immaculate. He always reminded me that I never ran that fast after that but in the same breath would mention with pride at every banquet about that first touchdown.
After I was done playing high school football Coach Kap asked if I wanted to help coach youth wrestling in Danbury. Little did I know agreeing to this it was a lot less of a coaching job and more of a demo dummy to be thrown around on the mat by youth wrestling coach Geno Frank. As Coach Kap put it at my senior banquet I wasn’t always the easiest guy to coach. What he probably meant by that was a lot of times my mouth got in the way of my passion and commitment. He definitely took pleasure watching me struggle as an 18 year old to try and coach 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. In hindsight this sparked the coaching bug in me.
When I was cut from Western Connecticut football team and felt like I was done with the sport. He without hesitation asked me to help out coaching. He created that kind of family atmosphere and knew what I needed at that point. I didn’t need to be challenged I needed an opportunity. One of his finest coaching qualities that I took with me was he always surrounded himself with coaches he trusted, gave them a plan, and let them coach. That is a rare trait in head coaches these days. The head coach bears the brunt of the blame when things go wrong. To have that trust and give a platform to learn and grow was an invaluable asset for me as a young coach. Chris and Elizabeth run their business the same way. It’s about giving people the opportunity to achieve their goals. The people they coach aren’t just clients they are family.
Ridgewood also achieved their goals tonight as well by pitching a shutout 27-0. The shutout was clinched fittingly by a Jack Whittmaack interception. A great night spending time catching up with Chris and meeting his family and friends. We made plans to get together for a beer during the holidays and I was told I am now officially a Nittany Lions fan (they are 1-0 since, just saying). On my ride home I thought about Coach Kap and the impact he had my football life. Chris then sent me a text thanking me for coming and that he loved hearing stories about his Dad. I hope he knew how much I love telling them.
Part 2: Father and Son
Game: Darien Blue Wave at Greenwich Cardinals
Grub: McDuff’s Public House
Hey Coach Mazz you brought tears to my eyes. Thanks.