Behind the Scenes: Larry Gallo
October 2, 2002 | General
Name:
Larry Gallo
Birthdate, Hometown:
May 2, 1951, Smithfield, Rhode Island
Education:
achelors of Arts degree in psychology, University of Rhode Island; Masters of Science degree in health, physical recreation and recreation
Larry Gallo has been a Senior Associate Athletic Director at UNC since November 1997. Gallo became apart of the Tar Heel family after previously working as a baseball coach and administrator at the University of Notre Dame, an associate athletic director at Wake Forest University and athletic director at Indiana State University.
Since Gallo arrived in Chapel Hill the sports teams have experienced a tremendous amount of success including NCAA Championships in field hockey (1997), women's soccer (1997, 1999, 2000), and men's soccer 2000 as well as Final Fours in men's basketball (1997, 1998, 2000).
TarHeelBlue:
What is your job here at the University?
Larry Gallo:
"The areas that I oversee are compliance, I'm over the strength and conditioning and weight staff and I work with academic very closely. The two sports I work with the most are football and men's basketball along with Mr. Baddour. I also coordinate the scheduling for football and men's basketball.
"This position is the inner-workings of the athletic department. I have dealt with admissions in the past. A lot of the time I deal with a lot of the problems that student-athletes have. Unfortunately that is not a lot of fun but it is a necessary thing that has to happen."
THB:
What is your most favorite Carolina memory?
LG:
"I came here in November of 1997, three days before we played Florida State. We were undefeated, FSU was undefeated and the place was going crazy. Now I had been around a lot of big time college football at Notre Dame for a long time so I knew how it was but that was really exciting.
"Also, some of the first couple of basketball teams that were here when I arrived were really great. The first year I was here we went to the Final Four in San Antonio with Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter. That was exciting too.
"However, a lot of people may find this hard to believe, but when I accepted this job my family wasn't able to come here from Indiana because my boys were still finishing school and we didn't want to disrupt them. I was basically here by myself for about eight or nine months without my family here. I was experiencing a lot of great Carolina moments but if you ask me what my favorite Carolina moment was it was when my family finally moved here in July 1998 and we were all together."
THB:
What sports have you played?
LG:
"I played baseball. That was my major sport in college. The track coach at the University of Rhode Island tried to get me to throw the 35 pound weight. I did it for a while but I was not very good.
"For the most part, baseball has been the sport that I've really liked and played a lot of throughout my youth days, high school and college. After college a lot of people asked me to play in one of these men's leagues and I kind of said that I'm done.
"In high school I played football and basketball. Our high school team didn't have a hockey team but I grew up by a lake and played an awful lot of hockey. So, I've enjoyed all kinds of sports."
THB:
What is your favorite Carolina sport?
LG:
"All of them, I just like sports period. I'll watch anything that has to do with sports. Whether it happens to be cricket, trying to figure out what the heck it's like or Australian-rules football, I'll watch it.
"I like to watch cooking shows. I don't cook but I am just fascinated to watch how people can take something that looks like nothing and make it look tremendous. I like animal shows too. They really relax me.
"I really don't know much about these shows like Friends, NYPD Blue and all this stuff. I really don't focus in on them."
THB:
Do you like the Crocodile Hunter?
LG:
"Yeah, I just like to watch the Animal Channel. I have a dog, a pug and it kind of relaxes him. He's a character. I try to find dog shows for him to watch and when he sees a dog that looks like him it's almost like he recognizes it. It's like he's looking in a mirror. Those kinds of things really relax me."
THB:
Where did you work prior to coming to UNC?
LG:
"I've had a few jobs. I started out after graduate school as an instructor. I applied for a job at the University of Notre Dame thinking nothing would come out of it. They offered me the job and I took it making around $11,000 and I thought it was the greatest thing in the world. It was the greatest thing in the world to me. I was the assistant coach of the baseball team and I took over after the coach stepped down.
"Like the University of North Carolina, Notre Dame is a phenomenal place. It was very special to me. I thought I would never leave Notre Dame.
"The opportunity came open at Wake Forest to go and be an assistant athletic director of facilities. They were building a lot of facilities at that time and I was close friends with the athletic director at the time, Gene Hooks. I thought it would be a good opportunity to get into administration.
"I eventually became the athletic director at the University of Indiana State in 1995. I was there about two and a half years and that was a good challenge, a good opportunity.
"I had known Mr. Baddour while I was at Wake Forest and he gave me a call when he was named athletic director here and asked me to come back and help him with the athletic department.
"I think what makes Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Indiana State and North Carolina so special are the people. I've been fortunate to have been around a lot of good people."
THB:
Which do you like better, being an administrator or a coach?
LG:
"I like them both. I never thought that I would be one that would solely be an administrator. I thought that when I started coaching in 1974 as a graduate assistant that I'd be there for the rest of my life. I really enjoyed coaching. I coached college baseball and during the summers from 1979 to 1987 I had the opportunity to coach in the Cape Cod baseball league, which is an outstanding summer league.
"I hate to use the word administrator, I don't think of myself as an administrator. I view myself as more of a facilitator and if you want to stretch that a little bit I kind of see myself as an assistant coach for all of our sports. I try to help them out as much as I possibly can. I try to help get them in a position where they can be successful.
"I look at myself as an educator in this field. My dad was a high school and college teacher for a long time, 40-something years so I kind of grew up with that particular atmosphere and background."
THB:
What is a little known fact about Larry Gallo?
LG:
"I had pretty blonde hair when I was a young boy. I actually used to have some hair.
"Also, just about all the way through junior high school I was never called Larry. My real first name is Lorenzo. I used to be called Lorrie. When someone would say my name other people would expect to see a young girl and then they see this big guy come in who is called Lorrie. My friends said that was bologna and they said they weren't going to call me Lorrie anymore and that is when they started calling me Larry."