Coach Joe Tropea has been giving back to the community his entire life.

His baritone voice has BOOMED across local playgrounds, football fields, baseball fields and basketball courts for decades.  He has been known to bite his tongue (literally) in tense game situations or thunderously thump a player’s back after a great play.  Energy. Exuberance. Honesty. Thousands of Washingtonian athletes have been positively impacted by his supportive, yet direct approach.

He has been a long-time head coach.  He has been a long-time assistant coach.  He has volunteered to sweep the floors or pick up the footballs after practice.  When it comes to coaching, when it comes to work, when it comes to family, when it comes to life, he is willing to do all the little things to make the team better.

Coach Joe Tropea is always giving.  Giving of his time.  Giving of his knowledge. Giving of his support. Giving of his enthusiasm. Giving of his stories.

And that is what has made him a local legend.

So where does it all start?  Where do you begin to tell the story of a man who has dedicated his life to making everyone around him better?

It all starts on the playground.

Growing Up on the Playground

From the late 1940s through the late 1980s, playgrounds ruled the culture in the Washington, DC area.  Back in those days, there were fewer swimming pools, fewer people joined country clubs, and there were virtually no paid, instructional leagues.

Playgrounds were the hub of the tight-knit neighborhoods.  Chevy Chase Playground.  Lafayette. Stoddert.  Hearst.  Hardy.  Palisades. You couldn’t go more than a few blocks in Washington, DC without running into the next playground.

The playgrounds provided vibrant social activity.  They provided incredible athletic instruction.  They provided a safe community.

And that was the Washington, DC that shaped Joe Tropea.

“I can still remember my mom yelling at me as a child: ‘Get out of the house and go to the playground!’  Who was I not to listen to my mother?” 

And so he did.  Joe grew up a proud member of St. Ann’s Parish in Northwest Washington, DC.  But when asked where he was from, he would answer: “Chevy Chase Playground!”

In those days, Freddy Kramer was the animated Playground Director at Chevy Chase.  He tirelessly organized all the sports leagues.  He provided expert instruction on everything from baseball to tennis.   He had a team of assistants to help him run the community center.  Joe Tropea was in awe.

“Freddy Kramer had  a huge influence on my life. The playground was everything to me.”

And Freddy, like all Playground Directors at the time, never charged a dime for instruction.

“Nowadays, there is a sentiment in youth sports that if you’re not paying for it, it can’t be any good.  That simply wasn’t the case back then.”

And Coach Joe Tropea never forgot the lessons he learned from the playground.

The Formative Years

Coach Tropea went on to attend St. John’s High School where he played for legendary coach Morgan Wooten (No, not on one of the powerhouse hoops teams!  He played for Coach Wooten’s last BASEBALL team).  He graduated from the military program and attended one year at Dayton before transferring back to George Washington University.

It was good to be back home.  While at GW, he re-connected with Freddy Kramer who offered him part-time work as a student assistant at Hearst Playground.  At nineteen years old, Joe Tropea was coaching on the playground and attending classes.  Life couldn’t get any better.

In 1962, Joe graduated from GW and entered the “real” world.  But it really wasn’t too much of a shock to his system.  He took a job working FULL TIME for the DC Department of Recreation and was promoted to Playground Director at Stoddert!

“Every time I tried to get out, they pulled me back in!” he joked.  “But of course, I was living my dream”.

Over the next six years, Coach Tropea moved to various playgrounds in the DC area.  He was completely in his element and his legend was growing.

But in 1968, in the wake of Martin Luther King’s assassination, Coach Tropea was lifted from the playgrounds and activated in the National Guard.  It was a tense time in Washington, DC  and they needed all hands on deck.  He was proud to serve and it offered incredible perspective on his life.  But he needed to get back to his passion.

Balancing Family and Coaching

Sometimes, doing what we love to do simply doesn’t pay the bills. We all have to balance passion and money.  And Coach Tropea was no different.

By 1974, he was married with three small children: Michael, Mark, and Janet (Matthew would come along a few years later).

He was still working for the DC Department of Recreation and money was tight. The stress level reached a crescendo and it was time to make some changes. Would he ever be able to coach again?

He stayed positive and resilient. Take care of business and then do what you love.

Coach Tropea had an accounting degree and knew what he had to do. He landed a 1-year stint at the DC Department of Finance and Revenue.

“My supervisor at the time had a saying: ‘Pandemonium Reigns Supreme!’ And that certainly was true of my life at that time.”

The next year, he leveraged a St. John’s connection and moved over to an accounting position at the Department of the Interior. He would remain in the Federal Government for the next 22 years!

With his career in place, he and Mary Jane could focus on the family.

The coaching didn’t stop on the fields or on the courts. Coach Tropea was always teaching his children, always encouraging them to give back. He modeled the same standard of consistency and service in the home as he did with his players.

Coach Tropea would get up early for all the paper routes and be there every step of the way, shouting encouragement as they completed the rounds. He welcomed his children’s friends in their home as if they were his own. There were only three rules when you stayed over at The Tropeas: You had to get up early for the paper route. You had to go to Church with the family on Sunday. And you had to hold court with Joe Tropea!

He set an incredible example of faith and leadership through action. And he instilled his values in his children through his dedication to the community.

Years later, he would serve as the Best Man for his oldest son, Michael. Joe Tropea’s toast at the reception summed up his own philosophy on life:

“There are two types of people in life; there are givers and there are takers.  My simple advice to you is to be givers, because whatever you give, you will get back 10-fold.” 

Amen, Coach! And thank you for providing a standard of selfless giving for all of us!

The Golden Years of Coaching

In 1974, Coach Tropea already had an impeccable reputation from his years of coaching on the DC Playgrounds. So when Jim Johnson, the inspirational founder of Chevy Chase Boys Club, needed a football coach to team up with the charismatic George Todd, it was a match made in heaven.

Coach Tropea dove into Chevy Chase Boys Club Football with vigor. His own kids were too little to coach, so he brought them up to watch. It was a true family affair.

Practices at Cummings Field (now re-named Johnson Field) were never the same! Coach Tropea barked out commands like a general. He taught his linemen to get low by threatening their exposed calves with a switch (a small tree branch). And along with mythical coach Wade Hubbard, he helped bring back the single wing offense to youth football.

He exuded enough energy to fire up the entire field. He worked tirelessly. He never stopped.

And with electricity provided from the old Murray house on Turner Lane, he helped cobble together makeshift lighting to “illuminate” the field during daylight savings time. He needed more time to teach:

“Practice ends when practice ends. Not because of darkness!”

Generations of young players would run through a brick wall for Coach Tropea. He was the Vince Lombardi of youth football!

And that was just how he spent his Fall months.

In the winters, Blessed Sacrament Athletic Directors Steve Gaw and Mike Greaney (respectively) needed someone to fill in the coaching holes for the hoops program. Would he be willing to coach the “C” teams? Of course. Could he fill in for the “A” team? No problem. How about the youngsters? Whatever it takes.

And it was never about coaching his own kids. In fact, when his son Mark was old enough to try out for Coach Tropea’s hoops team in 3^rd grade, he didn’t make it above the cut line.  Coach Tropea had some advice for his son.

“Wrestling might be a better sport for you.”

Of course, Coach Tropea still coached the team without his own son on the roster. Now that is old school!

To Coach Tropea, it was all about instilling pride. It was all about the team!

“Wearing a uniform of any kind is sacred. You are representing something bigger than yourself. I wanted them to understand that it mattered.”

Mission accomplished, coach!

And in the Spring, it was all about baseball! For ten years, Joe Tropea coached alongside the legendary Buddy Burkhead for Police Boys Club #8 youth baseball.

Everybody has a Buddy Burkhead story. He would rip into his players. Incessantly run drills until they were executed with perfection.   Become unhinged at times. The Bobby Knight of youth baseball.

But his players loved him. In the end, he always had their backs. And everyone knew it.

“Buddy Burkhead taught me more about baseball than anyone else. And I suspect there are a lot of kids out there who feel the same way”.

Coach Tropea was not the head coach. There could be only one head coach. But he served as the perfect glue for those teams. He built the players up when they needed it. And provided support for the entire team in difficult moments.

Fall. Winter. Spring. Fields. Courts. Diamonds. So many lives changed.

The coach from the playground never stopped giving back.

“Retirement”

As his boys grew up, and headed off to high school, Coach Tropea found himself in an unfamiliar position. As a parent on the sidelines. Of course, that didn’t last long!

When his son Mark went to St. John’s High School to play football, Coach Tropea made it two days as a”parent” before he stepped in and started coaching. He jumped right in to help with the offensive line. (He always helped the linemen. He loved being in the trenches!).

Many of Mark’s friends still laugh about the first time they met his dad: screaming in the lineman drills while brandishing that familiar switch. Linemen have to stay low in high school too!

Coach Tropea loved his time back at St. John’s. And they loved him. When fellow legendary coach Al Bautista asked him to help with the St. John’s JV Baseball team, it was easy to say yes.

And, in another circle of life moment, once again his son Mark did not make the team he coached!

In 1997, Joe Tropea retired from his Federal Government job. By that time, he had been coaching youth sports for nearly 40 years. He had coached all of his sons and his family was now grown.

But he still had a little something left in the tank.

Coach Tropea followed Buddy Burkhead over to St. Alban’s School. But he had no intention of being a head coach.

“I strongly believed the head coach should be a teacher. It was an extension of their school day. I was just there to help.” 

And help he did. He coached middle school basketball. He coached middle school football. He helped with the JV and Varsity teams. Once again, Coach Tropea was always giving.

But in June of 2000, the unthinkable happened. (Queue the dramatic music).

For the first time since he was in college, Joe Tropea did not have a whistle around his neck.

He was getting up there in age. He had just bought a house at the beach. It was time to truly enjoy retirement. Coach Tropea walked away from the field.

“But I missed interacting with the kids. I missed the camaraderie amongst the coaches. I missed it all!”

Well, maybe he had a few more seasons left to give.

The Mater Dei Years: “Whatever It Takes”

Coach Tropea stepped away for a year. But in the summer of 2001, he was ready to get back in the game. And fate would play a role in his next move.

Joe’s wife, Mary Jane, was teaching at Mater Dei School in Bethesda, MD. John Dugan, a teacher and coach at the school, was leaving for another opportunity. And John’s first football coach was none other than Joe Tropea!   It would be poetic justice for Coach Tropea to take his place!

John arranged a meeting between Joe and then-Head Football Coach Kevin Giblin. The two of them hit it off immediately. It was yet another match made in heaven!

Those Mater Dei football teams continued to dominate with Coach Tropea on the sidelines. Before all was said and done, they would win over 100 games straight. And how did Coach Tropea see his role?

“I just wanted to do all the little things so the head coaches could do their jobs better. Whatever it takes!”.

Always giving. It’s all about the kids. Whatever it takes.

Coach Giblin enjoyed coaching with Coach Tropea so much, he convinced him help with basketball. And when Coach Geimer needed a hand?  Sure, I’ll coach a little baseball.

The beat goes on.

One story sums up the dedication and toughness of Coach Tropea at this stop on the coaching carousel.

Some years back, a burly 8th-grade football player, Matty Collins, nearly a foot taller than Coach Tropea, was having trouble handling a pitch. Coach worked with him over and over to increase his concentration on the ball. Finally, the player concentrated so hard, he caught the pitch but inadvertently bowled over Coach Tropea!

Everyone held their breath as the long-time coaching legend lay motionless on the field.

Suddenly, he popped up off the ground like a springer spaniel.

“You think you’re tough, Collins?” he barked. “My grandmother hits harder than you!”

God bless your resilience, coach.

A few years later, Joe’s youngest son, Matthew, joined the Mater Dei staff. And he now has the dream opportunity to coach alongside his own son.

The circle of life continues!

Through it all, Coach Tropea keeps doing the little things. Sweeping the floors. Gathering the footballs. Whatever it takes to make everyone’s job easier.

Coach Tropea is now 77 years old. Since “retiring”, he has coached 18 years at Mater Dei School! He is a miracle.

How does he do it?

“They make these great compression socks. They have extended my coaching career!”

Whatever it takes, coach.

And thank you for your example of excellence.

How many of us follow our passion?

How many of us are willing to do all the little things to make the team better?

How many of us understand our changing roles throughout life?

How many of us practice what we preach?

How many of us inspire through action?

How many of us give back more than we take in life?

Coach Tropea says he is going to keep coaching as long as he can walk. I believe him.

And there will be more stories to tell.

Stock up on those compression socks, Coach. As long as there are kids who want to play sports, we need you out on that field!

Until next week, keep smiling.