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and he saw the hall of fame and was introduced to the coaches like [John] Desko. Sam had stars in his eyes. What’s funny is when he was in grade school, his teacher made him write a letter to himself and when he graduated, the letter was mailed back to him. It mentioned all his friends and role models and that Casey was an inspiration. Another one of the questions was what do you want to be when you get out of high school, and when he was in sixth grade, he said, ‘I want to go to Syracuse University and play lacrosse.’ He stuck to it. He now got a scholarship to Syracuse University to play lacrosse. We’re very excited about it. It’s a dream come true for him.


You have a large playing field for Sam to practice on?


I’ve got nearly 50 yards by 50 yards for a field.


He’s back there shooting all the time, maybe too much. Desko even told him to back off a little bit.


How did you get involved in the restaurant industry?


The first restaurant I opened was in college. I was making more money than the professors. I had two karate schools and they were just going crazy. One guy whose son I was teaching was in the restaurant business and wanted to partner. I sold my karate schools and we opened an Italian restaurant called the Gladiator. It did well, but I was more service-motivated. Think about doing something good and something people like and you’ll make twice as much money.


What was the concept behind Macaroni Grill? I said, ‘I want the Olive Garden.’ If Olive Garden is doing well, and I’m Italian, I know what it’s all about. So I’m going to create the Macaroni Grill. I thought about how I grew up as a kid. We all ate in the kitchen. So I made it like that. You walk in and there’s a kitchen on both sides. There are flowers and white tablecloths. As a kid, I would go to all these different festivals and there were lights strung so I wanted that feeling too. We made it how it was when I grew up.


How have your restaurants remained successful? You’ve got to create five things that are sacred and be holy to it. For Fuddruckers, it was grind my own hamburger, cook my own buns, put all the condiments out there, cook everything on a black iron griddle and the way the place looked. It takes discipline. It’s the same thing in your own life. You’ve got your principles and value system. If you stick to it, you become successful.


— Megan Schneider


Romano's son, Sam, plays at Syracuse. The family has a 50-yard practice field at their Dallas home.


laxmagazine.com


GREAT STAR POWER JON BON JOVI


The rock star’s son, Jesse Bongiovi, was a lacrosse and football standout at Poly Prep (N.Y.). A walk-on to Notre Dame’s football team, he tore his ACL in South Bend in spring 2014. If everything aligns this year, he’ll be teammates with Nick Ossello, who played four years of lacrosse for the Irish and is trying football this season.


JIM MORA He coaches the UCLA football team now, and used to coach in the NFL and work for NFL Network, but Mora is very much into lacrosse. He attended the 2014 FIL World Championship in Denver. His son, Ryder, is committed to play at Maryland.


JON


COOPER There was no way to think that when Cooper was a mullet- wearing midfielder on John Danowski’s Hofstra teams in the 1980s that he would one day coach the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup final. But that’s what he did this year.


BILL


BELICHICK The foundation in the name of the New England Patriots’ Super Bowl-winning coach recently made a gift to the US Lacrosse Foundation in support of the US Lacrosse First Stick Program. — C.M.


october 2015 » LACROSSE MAGAZINE


17


©JOHN STROHSACKER (SR)


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