In life, sometimes things are meant to be, and for Nolan Raimo, it’s to be on the sidelines coaching Marblehead track.
Growing up in Marblehead, Raimo was involved in all types of sports. He was always active and was a great athlete.
“I grew up playing baseball, basketball, and football. I was a pretty good basketball and baseball player and planned to play it for a long time,” Raimo said. “I started track in the seventh grade out of the blue. My dad was a state champion in the hurdles in the ‘70s. My mom claimed she did the broad jump in the presidential fitness test back in the ‘70s and that’s where my genes come from.”
When Raimo was in the eighth grade, the high school team would practice after the middle school team, which is when Raimo had his first few interactions with then-high school coach Brian Crowley.
“He brought me around the high school athletes and had me talk to them about the events they do and what the process is like,” Raimo said.
When Raimo got to high school, he wasn’t even sure he would run track initially. He thought about playing freshman basketball and baseball and then maybe transitioning to track later in high school. However, that all changed after he spoke to his father.
“My dad was honest and said that I was good at basketball and baseball, but I’d be great at track,” Raimo said.
Raimo decided to run track and give up basketball and baseball. Between the short hurdles, long jump, and triple jump, Raimo started to get comfortable competing at the high school level.
Unfortunately, everything went south during his sophomore year when his father died.
“That was a tidal wave of overwhelming nature. It kind of empowered me in track, truthfully,” Raimo said. “I consider it to be post-traumatic growth. I got really focused on track once he passed. I found peace and tranquility at track.”
Raimo, with his newfound appreciation for track, started to focus on getting better.
“By junior year, I was competing at the state level somewhat competitively,” Raimo said. “Junior year, I was a top 20 long jumper in the state.”
The person who was always by Raimo’s side was Mr. Crowley.
“Mr. Crowley was a father figure for me, especially after my dad was gone. When I went to New Englands, no one else on my team went except for Mr. Crowley. He’d go and watch and coach me during the events,” Raimo said. “He is one of the greatest guys. I would not be coaching if it wasn’t for him and the impact he left on me.”
With his results, colleges started to recruit him. But he wanted to make sure he went to the right school for academics, not just for track.
“Junior year summer I started to get recruited mainly for my jumps and hurdles,” Raimo said. “Basically the entire NESCAC (New England Small College Athletic Conference) was recruiting me. I had some contact with Ivy League schools too. My ultimate goal was to get the best education out of my legs. It wasn’t about going to the best track school, it was about going to the best school where I can run.”
When his senior season came, Raimo continued to make a name for himself across the country.
“I was the number three hurdler in New England and number two in Massachusetts, and although we didn’t have national rankings as we do now, I was a top 50 hurdler in the nation in the 55-meter hurdles,” Raimo said.
Throughout his high school career, in honor of his father, Raimo raised more than $28,000 dollars for different charities when he took part in the decathlon and pentathlon from his sophomore year to his senior year.
With all the success Raimo had at high school, he decided to commit to Williams College, where he was immediately hit with a reality check.
“I came from being an elite student at Marblehead and one of the best athletes and I felt like I was the king of the world. Then I showed up to Williams where 50% of the school were valedictorian or salutatorian of their high school and were significantly better athletes than me,” Raimo said. “I was definitely a small fish in a big pond.”
Raimo would go on to win Rookie of the Year his freshman year and then Most Improved his junior year. As a senior, Raimo admitted he matured and wanted to be the best person he could be.
“I was a captain senior year at Williams and took a big maturity step. I did everything I could to be the best person I could be on and off the track. I stopped drinking for seven months and I invested a lot into myself,” Raimo said.
Raimo ran the 400-meter hurdles that year and qualified for nationals with a 53.56 time — something he’s still proud of to this day.
After graduation, he thought he had his work career planned out.
“I figured when I got a job I’d work in finance for the first part of my career and then maybe switch to teaching/coaching in the second stage of my career, maybe in my mid-40s when I was more financially secure,” Raimo said.
His plan took a turn when he received a phone call from an old friend.
“Mr. Crowley reached out to me when he was stepping down from coaching. I had a full-time job down at Putnam in Downtown Boston as an internal investment specialist. I remember for two months I stared at the application thinking ‘Am I really going to quit my full-time job to coach high school track?’” Raimo said. “I luckily decided to take it with the help of my mom, my partner, Emma, and other people who nudged me to take it.”
“When I wrote my cover letter to become the coach, I said ‘If I could impact kids, even if it’s just fractionally, like how Mr. Crowley impacted me, I would be so proud of myself’,” Raimo added.
Raimo is entering his fifth year coaching at Marblehead and said he has applied some of the lessons that Crowley taught him.
“Mr. Crowley is a lifelong hero to me. What I do at track now, not necessarily what he taught me track-wise, but what he taught me about caring for people,” Raimo said. “For someone who lost their father and who was in an abyss, to have someone like him behind me and kept pushing me meant everything.”
What Raimo is enjoying most is being a mentor to these high schoolers and providing a healthy culture for them to thrive in.
“I’ve loved every moment of coaching here. I couldn’t stop coaching. I’m going into teaching now because a lot of jobs don’t work with coaching. It’s like a rush or a thrill, I love doing it and I love doing it here at Marblehead,” Raimo said. “I love being able to coach the kids in addition to helping them learn about life too and being like a mentor to them.”
“When you see them come into high school as 14-year-olds, it’s a whole new world for these kids. I think we build a great culture here so when they come to practice they’re in an environment where they feel comfortable no matter their skill level,” he added. “It’s one of the coolest things that I can help shape these kids to become better people.”
