What does Stamford High Athletics mean? It means the annual Pink Out football game that raises a tremendous amount of money for Breast Cancer. It means basketball games in the Kuczo Gymnasium, hockey games at Terry Conners, and games under the light at Boyle Stadium. But there is a lot of unnoticed things about Stamford High Athletics. 

If you walk too fast, you miss his room, but the heart of Stamford High Athletics is really located on the 4th floor next to the Gymnasium. Jordan Napolitano is an athletic trainer at Stamford High School. He was born and raised in Stamford and has worked at Stamford High for nine years now. 

He was a three-sport athlete in high school, which is the reason being trainer was an ideal job for him, and just one of the reasons he is such a great athletic trainer. Napolitano does more than just tape ankles, he’s someone to review your game with and always there to wish you goodluck with a high-five before every game.

Napolitano always makes sure to thoroughly explain injuries to athletes and always has their best interest at heart. Varsity athlete, Taylor Yaghmaie said, “Jordan is just the best. When I got tennis elbow, he always made it his first priority to help me. He constantly asked me how it was feeling, even if I just saw him out of my sports season at another game. More than a trainer, he’s just a nice person. He does above and beyond always.”

Napolitano’s professionalism and excellence was displayed to the public December 28, 2019. It was the annual winter girls basketball tournament at Stamford High, and Westhill was playing Scarsdale in basketball. With about six minutes left in the first half of the game, one of the referees of the game, Tom Ferrarese collapsed onto the floor at midcourt.  He had looked unconscious and appeared to be unresponsive. Napolitano said, “He was unresponsive to verbal cues and being touched, so we activated EMS, had someone call 911, and got the AED as a precaution. He was still breathing, but he wasn’t responsive.”

Before Napolitano began compressions, Mr. Ferrarese regained consciousness.  He appeared to be okay, but all of the sudden he went unresponsive once again. Napolitano said, “We cleared everybody, administered the shock, and then went into chest compressions. I did a set of compressions, two rescue breaths, compressions, two rescue breaths, and as I was about to perform my third set of compressions, he became conscious again.” The firefighters and paramedics arrived right as he started the compressions.  They safely hooked him up to machines and medications, and fortunately, Napolitano told us he was doing well.

Napolitano said, “I do appreciate that everyone is giving me a ton of support and I really do thank people for that, but it wasn’t just me situation. I thought everybody in our staff acted extremely well, from the coaches getting people out of the gym to our athletic director taking charge.”  

This was a combined effort by all involved. Without the Stamford High Girls Basketball staff, Chris Passamano, the Athletic Director, and the cooperation of everyone else, the traumatic event might not have run so smoothly. It was evidence of how prepared the Athletic program is. 

While this was a team effort, a lot of credit goes to Napolitano. He was ready to do his job and well-prepared. However, this is just one example of Napolitano’s excellent work. Although he doesn’t save lives everyday, he always does an amazing job.