Vince D’Adamo: What did you enjoy most about competing in athletics throughout your life?
Tim Malloy: The competition itself. I think society has become delusional on the role athletics plays in everyday life. I am a firm believer that there are winners and losers, athletics taught me that growing up. Today, there are too many outside influences corrupting young people. Not everyone should get a ribbon or trophy. We learn life lessons from failure as much, if not more, than from success. Competition teaches us to focus, deal with adversity and most importantly gives us the understanding that not everything is going to be easy. This can be carried on throughout life in so many different ways.
D’Adamo: What have you been doing since graduating from high school?
Malloy: After high school I attended and graduated from St. Mary’s College in Moraga. I went to work as an underwriter for Allied Insurance Company after graduation in 1991. I started working for the Insurance Agency my great grandfather started (1911) in October of 1993 and became partner in 1997. I married my college sweetheart, Christine Nicole, on March 5, 1994 and we started our family on September 29, 1997 (Morgan Alexis Malloy). On March 23, 2007, we welcomed our second child, Thomas Biron. Morgan will graduate Justin-Siena High School on June 4. She will attend St. Mary’s College in the fall. Tommy had been concentrating on gymnastics for the last couple of years. He started playing basketball and baseball this year after seven years chasing his sister from gym to gym, city to city. It appears as though Chris and I are starting this sports thing all over.
D’Adamo: What was your favorite class at Justin-Siena High?
Malloy: Geometry with Mr. (Gary) Rose. He had the ability to teach an abstract subject with enthusiasm and conviction. He kept us all engaged and helped make the school day go a little faster.
D’Adamo: What was your favorite athletic moment "as an athlete" at Justin-Siena High?
Malloy: I participated in varsity baseball for three years and varsity basketball for two years. I would have to say there are many memorable moments with both of those sports. I had caring coaches (Gary Rose, Steve Meyer, Lynn McCarroll, Greg Schmitz) who all taught us how to compete, value relationships and truly tried to teach us how to be great people. With that being said, my most memorable moment was helping re-start the cross country program in my senior year with Mr. (Frank) Defilippis. I was the only member of the varsity boys team and Coach D helped give me a confidence that carried on throughout my senior year, into college, and ultimately continued into my professional life.
D’Adamo: You have served a variety of different roles with Justin athletics since graduating, how much do you enjoy staying connected?
Malloy: When I moved back to Napa, I was given an opportunity by Steve Meyer to help with the baseball program. Coach Tom Bonfigli was hired in 1994 to be the head varsity boys basketball coach and he asked that I coach the freshman boys. I have been helping at the school in some capacity ever since. I truly enjoy the student/athletes and try to help them understand the value of high school sports. “Staying connected” was never my goal. I had a great experience at Justin-Siena as a student/athlete and have been fortunate enough to give back to the community.
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?
Malloy: I believe I have grown tremendously since graduating high school and I can attribute a lot of my growth to athletics. In reality a lot of my personal growth has come from coaching. As an athlete, I never really understood the big picture, I wanted to compete and I wanted to win. That was my mindset when I first started coaching as well. It wasn’t until I started coaching Morgan in fifth grade at St. John’s Lutheran that I truly started to understand the value of athletics and the influence coaches have on student/athletes. There is a lot more to athletics than winning and losing. Bob Hauch was the athletic director and boys basketball coach at St. John’s Lutheran when I started. He helped me understand how much of a difference we can make as coaches. He explained there are two paths, I believe he helped me find the right one.
D’Adamo: Within your family, who have been the most influential people?
Malloy: My Grandpa Malloy has had the most influence on me. He had a calming personality that was infectious. We live in a selfish society, my grandfather was the most selfless person I have ever known. He taught me that everyone puts their pants on one leg at a time. His simple life lessons were to look everyone in the eye, give those you are talking to your undivided attention and most importantly refrain from talking about yourself.
D’Adamo: Name a historical figure, dead or alive, in or out of sports you would most like to meet.
Malloy: This is a tie. I would love to have a 30 minute face to face conversation with Pete Rose. I think all young athletes (every sport) should watch videos on Pete Rose. We try to teach our kids to play every possession and not take plays off. Pete Rose never took a play off. If I saw a player sprint to first base when they walked in baseball I would guess they have seen a video of Pete Rose. Society has taught young people that looking good matters. Pete Rose never cared about how he looked, he cared about helping his team win. I would need a lot more than 30 minutes with John Wooden but would love to pick his brain as well. He was a believer in repetition, commitment and competitive greatness. Something I think a lot of people need to understand a little better.
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