Special bond lives on: DeLuca inspired by late father, draws strength from family
It was bitter cold, nasty cold that December morning in 2018. In other words, it couldn’t have been more perfect for Larry DeLuca as he ran onto the field at Boyle Stadium in Stamford to celebrate with the Greenwich football team.
DeLuca had been a standout defensive lineman on the 1983 state champions who had beaten Notre Dame-West Haven to finish 12-0.
And now, 35 years later, here was his son Larry Jr., a linebacker, extending the family legacy in Greenwich’s 34-0 rout of New Canaan for the Class LL championship and the completion of a 13-0 season.
The perfect bookend, Larry DeLuca called it.
“It was like a fantasy,” he told the Greenwich Time a few days later.
Dominic DeLuca, who’ll be competing for a state family championship hat trick Saturday at Rentschler Field against Fairfield Prep, ran on the field at Boyle Stadium, too. The DeLuca family was all out there. It seemed like half of Greenwich was.
The wallpaper on Dom’s iPhone is a photo of Larry, LJ and Dom celebrating. He was in the eighth grade.
“That was a really special day for my family,” said Dom, now a senior captain and starting tight end/defensive end. “An amazingly happy memory,” Kelley DeLuca said. Kelley remembers Larry saying, “I was happy when I won my state final, but nothing brought tears to my eyes quicker than to watch my oldest win his state title.”
Larry had worked for his dad’s business, A. DeLuca & Sons, before founding and operating Larry DeLuca Excavating. His obituary would note he was famous for gifting nicknames, perfectly grilled rib eyes and the best sausage frittata in town.
Although Kelley still calls her oldest Larry, dad called him LJ. He called Dominic, “Nade.” Dom became Dominator, shortened to Nade and when Dom suggests that he’s thinking about officially changing his first name, Kelley answers, “Oh, no, you’re not.”
Larry DeLuca fell sick in March 2019. A year and 11 days later after that cold, perfect day at Boyle Stadium, surrounded by his family, he died on Dec. 19, 2019. Larry DeLuca was 53.
“He was my best friend,” Dom said. “He was my No. 1 fan. He always had my back. Best guy you could ever ask for.”
“It’s extremely painful for our family and everyone who knew him, that we lost Larry to a rare form of leukemia,” Larry’s wife Katie DeLuca said. “He left an indelible example of how to behave on and off the field and all of his children have followed suit.
“Larry was extremely proud of all of his children; just a wonderful father, who was enormously supportive and loving, so naturally he was ecstatic for Larry Jr.”
Kelley and Larry divorced when their three boys were young, but they remained good friends. Larry remarried. Katie DeLuca has been the Greenwich director of planning and zoning for years. Larry had the kids over every weekend, anytime really, Kelley said, that he wanted them.
“He was very involved,” Kelley said. “They idolized their father. They will all tell you he was their best friend. He made them laugh. He was there for them. He taught them. He was at every football game. Was it hard losing him? Absolutely. Do they miss him every day? Yes, 100 percent.”
LJ has the Greenwich Time article about his dad and him from the 2018 championship hanging over his bed. Whenever he scores a touchdown, makes a sack, strips a ball, Dom will kiss his fingers and throw it to the heavens.
Coach Anthony Morello has the numbers to play twoplatoon football. His goal is simple: Have the best 11 on the field at all times.
“If they’re gassed early in the third quarter then they’ll be useless on both sides of the ball,” Morello said. “They’ve got to be able to handle the workload. Dom is one of those rare breeds who only needs a play or two and a squirt of water and he’s right back out there ready to go.”
As a tight end, Dom has 21 catches and three touchdowns. As a defensive end, he has five sacks and seven hurries.
“Playing the whole game is hard, but it’s a lot of fun,” Dom said.
“As a mother, it makes me a tad nervous,” Kelley said. “At the end of every game, I’m like, ‘Oh my goodness, how tired are you?’ He’s like, ‘Mom, ‘I’m fine.’ ”
LJ, a senior at New Hampshire, played his last football game on Dec. 8, 2018. Dom will play college football. UConn offered him a scholarship last spring as a projected tight end. There’s Maine, Rhode Island …
“I’m keeping my options open,” Dom said.
As a mom of a senior captain, Kelley has duties. Morello said she has gone above and beyond, turning the concession stand into a merchandising stand, too.
“She made it pop,” Morello said.
Kelley orders the merchandise, helps set up and … then leaves it to the sophomore moms.
“As soon as the boys walk out, that’s when I say goodbye,” Kelley said. “I check in with them at halftime and at the end of the game.”
She wouldn’t miss a play.
“My mom is the strongest woman I’ve ever met,” Dom said. “To be a single parent for three boys takes a special person.”
“As a parent, you never want to see your children in pain,” Kelley said. “My boys lost the most important person to them. I do my best to put smiles on their faces, but the void is real every day.
“The boys have an unbelievable bond. What we’ve gone through as a foursome. What they’ve been through with the death of their father. He lives on in the lives of my boys.”
Larry has made all but a couple of Greenwich’s games. He comes down from Durham, N.H., and folks say, “Wow. Larry’s home again.”
“I never spoke to him about it, never asked him to come home,” Kelley said. “But I know he does it because his father isn’t there and feels he needs to represent him for his brother. He carries the weight on his shoulders that he shouldn’t. I try to tell him that. His name is Larry DeLuca and he’s going to live up to the legacy his father left.”
There are plenty of similarities among the boys. Kelley laughs when she asks for the differences.
“If you told Dominic to run into the wall, he will think about and then do it,” she said. “Tony would look at me and say nah I don’t really feel like doing that. Larry would just full blast into the wall.”
The other difference is visual. LJ is 5-foot-10. Tony, who attends Colorado and watches every game on livestream, is 6-0. Dom is 6-6.
“That’s the big question in my family,” Dom said. “My uncle was almost 6-6. Everyone assumes I got the height from my dad’s side.”
Larry’s late dad and late brother, both named Tony, played in the NFL.
“The DeLuca family has a long history of football success,” Katie said. “So watching Dominic excel is a great source of joy.”
Greenwich is not undefeated this season. The Cardinals lost to Southington by one point and Staples by one point. Like the 2018 team, which became the first in school history to be voted No. 1 in the state, they have a definite shot with a Class LL victory.
They also have a chance to avenge last season’s quarterfinal loss to Fairfield Prep, a game they led until quarterback Jack Wilson was driven from the game with a concussion.
“Sure, you can say it’s a motivation,” Dom said. “But last year that’s in the past. Jack, he’s my best friend. We’ve moved on. I know he’s fired up. We’re all fired up.”
Before each game, Dom tapes his wrists. On one, he writes the date of his father’s death. On the other he writes their uniform numbers: 74 x 9. He will do it a final time for Greenwich Saturday.
“A championship would be incredible for Dominic and his teammates,” Katie said, “but one thing is for sure, whatever the outcome, Dominic has made his family so proud.”
“Dom misses his father terribly,” Kelley said. “I think it’s the reason this year is so important to him. He wants to follow in the footsteps of his father and brother. I tell him he doesn’t have to worry about making his father proud of him. His father always has been and always will be proud of him.
“I hope Dominic knows no matter what happens, he’s already a winner in his father’s book. He already has lived up to the DeLuca legacy. Wins and losses don’t represent legacy, heart does. His heart is in the same place as his father and brother.”
If you see No. 9 kiss his fingers and throw it to sky Saturday at Rentschler Field, you’ll know something very good happened for Greenwich.
“LJ has been in my ear since first game last year to just go out and do my part,” Dom said. “He has never put any expectations on me. He tells me all the time I’ve left my mark on Greenwich football. But what better way to do that than with a state championship?”