LET’S GO
ANDIAMO!
Tribute written by Tony Oroszlany ’87 This past spring Mr. Danilo Tramontozzi announced that he would be retiring from Loyola School’s classrooms and coaching at the end of the 2010-2011 academic year. “Tram,” as Mr. Tramontozzi has become affectionately known, has served Loyola for 45 consecutive academic years, the longest continuous service to the school of any faculty or staff member in Loyola’s history. To put that into some perspective, Tram has been at Loyola School for parts of six decades and for Presidents Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush II, and Obama! In talking with members of the Loyola community about Tram and all that he has done for Loyola, I kept hearing, “what a gentleman” and “an incredible role model” and sometimes, simply, “he’s the greatest.” I smiled and nodded in total agreement as he is all of the above and much, much more. Personally, I have always thought that it would be hard not to love Tram and his family. His wife Lidia is the epitome of grace and elegance and a friend of many alumni, parents, faculty and former faculty members. Two of their children, Lucas ’96 and Vanessa ’98, graduated from Loyola and both went on to Jesuit institutions—Georgetown University and Boston College, respectively; and their oldest son Mark certainly knows the halls of Loyola School quite well. As you might imagine, quite a number of Loyola yearbooks have been dedicated to Mr. Tramontozzi. In one tribute, the senior class commented, “He is always there to lend a shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen, or a comment to which we cannot help but smile…He treated us with all the love and respect that he did his own children.” In another yearbook it was noted, “Mr. Tram has generously demonstrated, on many occasions, how we were not just another class, but fifty-two individuals who have become like his own children.” So the professor from Roma and his wife from Friuli think that they only have three children, but a couple thousand members of the Loyola community would beg to differ. Loyola School is often sincerely referred to as a second home by our students, parents, and graduates and this feeling has evolved over time because of people like Mr. Tram and current and former faculty friends and colleagues like Mr. Agnostakis, Dr. Bolton, Ms. Cerussi, Ms. Cupillari, Mr. Guerra, Mr. Hanser†, Fr. Haskins†, Mr. Lyness, Fr. Katsouros, Sr. Nora†, Fr. Prior†, Mr. Stone, Mr. Sullivan, and Mr. Winans†. Every one of these individuals loved Tram and understood the impact that he had on Loyola School as teacher, coach, plant manager, chaperone, friend and more. Fortunately, Tram’s impact at Loyola will not be coming to an end as he has been named our new Alumni Relations Director Emeritus and you will all certainly see him at many Loyola events. He will not have the long drive in from New Jersey every morning or have to brave the GW Bridge traffic every evening, but he will remain an important part of the Loyola community. I was lucky enough to have studied Italian with this wonderful teacher, played soccer for this outstanding coach, and journeyed across the Atlantic on Tram’s first ever student trip to Italy. The privilege of seeing his homeland through his eyes was an incredible blessing and I will always remember his reflections on Michelangelo, the canals of Venice, Italy’s greatest soccer teams, Vittorio Emanuale II, Garibaldi, the right way to grill vegetables, the Duomo, his passion for Loyola, the Mediterranean, Romeo and Juliet, and the love of family. As a member of Loyola’s soccer team, I often heard his celebrated rallying call of “Andiamo!,” which means “Let’s go!” in Italian. And so, although we go forward without Tram in our classrooms, we have the comfort of knowing that he will still influence our Loyola School—a home he has helped form these the past 45 years. I cannot imagine it any other way. 2
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LOYOLA MAGAZINE SUMMER 2011