Vince D’Adamo: What did you enjoy most about competing in athletics throughout your life?
Nick Reinell: The camaraderie. I enjoyed the day-in and day-out time and work put in with my teammates and friends in practice and then the sharing of nerves, joys, and lows during game time. The shared experience and the commitment you make to each other is special.
Almost as important (at least to me) was beating your opponent to the point where they respected your game. When you shook your opponent's hand after the end of the game and they gave you a little extra pat on the helmet and had something a little extra to say specifically to you; that was the most rewarding thing you could receive. Earning the respect of the opponent (and beating the tar out of them!) was important to me.
D’Adamo: What have you been doing since graduating from high school?
Reinell: After Justin-Siena, I attended Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana and graduated with a degree in Biochemistry. I returned home and was lucky enough to be hired by a wine industry laboratory, which then sparked my interest and passion for wine. Today, I am proud to be making wine at a couple of Napa Valley wineries. I also play ice hockey every week in Santa Rosa which is has always been my favorite sport to play and watch.
D’Adamo: What was your favorite class at Justin-Siena High?
Reinell: Hands down, it was AP English with Robert Morrish. The love he had for literature was only bested by the love he had for his students and teaching. To this day, there is not a week that goes by where a quote from a novel we read or a patented Morrish phrase, does not creep into my conscience. "You can't stay on Ogygia." "The braggart's pompous tongue is hated most by Zeus." "Good enough rarely is!" “Janicing,”
“Scribble Walking,” the Black Cat... It was the most engaging classroom I've ever been in.
D’Adamo: What was your favorite athletic moment at Justin-Siena High?
Reinell: Gotta be the football game against Drake where I scored a touchdown off an intercepted screen pass.
There is no way a defensive lineman gets a touchdown....right? That night I did; 15 yards to glory. You would think I would be the 'toast of the town' after that... but earlier that same game, I had been bested by my best friend; Justin Paniagua, had a 55-yard interception return for a touchdown (I threw a key block on that play, and he knows that...) that gained him Team Chevy Player of the Game. I was disappointed in the snub, but it was the Drake QB that left that night the most disappointed.
D’Adamo: How much do you feel you have grown personally since graduating from high school and how much of that do you trace to athletics?
Reinell: In some ways, I am still the same person I was when I was younger. You don't have to convince my fiance of that.
However, much of what I do professionally relates to the team dynamics of athletics. Winemaking is the epitome of a team endeavor. You depend on the vineyard crew to manage the vines and grapes, with care, for 8-9 months. Then you rely on your cellar crew to crush, ferment, and age wine for 1-2 years.
There are probably 22 different people and hundreds of steps and inputs involved in the process. One piece affects the other; I’m still a part of a team everyday and wine is a true team sport.
D’Adamo: Within your family, who have been the most influential people?
Reinell: My mother, my father, my brother and my fiance.
I get my passion and emotion from my mother. I get my levelhead and patience from my father. I get my inspiration and love of life from my brother. And I get all of those and everything else I need from my soon to be wife. In regard to my future wife...she was the best looking reporter at The Napa Register so I had to take my shot; no offense to the other staff.
D’Adamo (chuckling): I can’t argue with you on the best-looking part. Now for the $64,000 question. Name a historical figure, dead or alive, in or out of sports you would most like to meet.
Reinell: John Wooden is always my response. The greatest coach of all time; in any sport. His philosophies transcend sport and are incontrovertible truths for how to conduct one's self. As a California boy who found a calling in Indiana, I appreciate, respect, and revere the Indiana boy who found his calling in California.
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