![]() Poggi brought his talent and desire to work with kids to Brown, Temple and the Citadel where he laid a foundation to his coaching resume before returning to the Gilman School. He was drawn into business out of college by his father-in-law where Poggi’s acumen and analytic bent in assessing business value led to success as a hedge fund manager. He starred as an offensive lineman at the University of Pittsburgh and as a graduate of Duke University. Poggi parlayed his success at Gilman - both on and off the gridiron - to further his academic and playing career in college. And that’s what I wanted to be I wanted to coach all types of kids.” “I modeled my career as a coach after him because he was a saver of boys and a builder of men. “I believe God used Redmond Finney to change my life for a purpose,” Poggi said. Poggi said it was as if Finney willed him to succeed. ![]() His wife cooked for him, they schooled him and demonstrated daily their values of service to others. He had Poggi live in his home for a time around exams. But he looked at me and he said, ‘I’ve been doing this a long time, my whole life, and you know what I think?’ And I thought, Oh, I’m going to get ‘This isn’t right for you.’ And what he said was, ‘I think you’re a really good boy, and I think this is the best place for you.’ My mother began to cry.”įinney shepherded Poggi’s entrée into the school. “And I expected him to look like the priest in Amadeus when he got Salieri’s confession. ![]() “I told him honestly my whole story,” Poggi said. He came from many generations of great wealth. He was from the absolute opposite background from us. “Redmond Finney was a larger-than-life person in this community,” Poggi recalled. “She laughed, and said, ‘Gilman School? You can just throw that away because they don’t take boys like Biff.’”Īt the coach’s invitation, Poggi went with his mother to meet Gilman School’s headmaster, Redmond Finney. When approached by his friend with the incredible story, Poggi’s father was elated about the opportunity. Fully integrated in the 1960s, the school has enjoyed a strong reputation for more than 125 years for development of young men from widely diverse social and economic backgrounds. Gilman School, an all-boys private independent prep school, is well known as one of the most prestigious and academically rigorous schools in Baltimore. I’m the athletic director and head coach at the Gilman School.’” And it’s just really a shame.’ The gentleman wrote his name and number on a napkin and said, ‘Tell his father to call me. “My father’s friend said, ‘Well, that kid had a lot of trouble, he’s not playing anymore, and he’s not going to school. A fellow at a nearby table overheard him and asked, ‘Poggi? Did that guy have a kid that was a good football player? What ever happened to that kid?’” “And he used my father’s name in a conversation. “My father’s friend was at a restaurant,” Poggi explained. He recalled how a single event changed his trajectory forever. Life however, at that very moment, had other plans for Poggi.
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