This morning I woke up to the news that one of the most influential people in my life, James Pompa, has passed away after a long battle with ALS. But I refuse to make this blog a sad one, because that is not what he would have wanted. Even during his battle, he was still joking and smiling.
He was my middle school volleyball coach, and my brother's 6th grade teacher. I remember always wanting him as a teacher because everyone always raved about how amazing he was. He really had a way with kids. He was the reason that I became so passionate with volleyball. He was also the reason I was able to make a great club team. He would work with anyone that asked him for help. I think the reason he was such a great teacher and coach was because he was strict, but he also had a great sense of humor and really cared for everyone. He pushed you because he knew you could do it and he wanted you to work to your full potential. He wasn't one for bull sh*t.
As a coach, he did little things to push and inspire us. At the end of every season, we had a party with the teams where we did an award ceremony. I ended up getting the net award (which turned out to be a Scooby-Doo butterfly net) because I was in the net the most out of anyone on the team. We also had team towels we had tie-dyed together that we got a little piece of at the end. I still have both the butterfly net and the piece of towel in my room at home.
Last semester I wrote a newspaper article in his honor. I was in a feature writing class where we had to write a newspaper profile about someone. Immediately, the only person that I wanted to do my article on was Pompa. I worked closely with him that semester working on the article. When I went to interview him the first time, the first thing he showed me was a chair in the corner of the room. It was the chair that my 8th grade volleyball team gave him so that he could sit on his own chair during the games. After all of these years he still had it.
Here's the article that I had wrote for him. And I would like to thank everyone who helped me put this together.
#Team Pomps
Sitting in a cramped room after his third visit with an attorney, James Pompa shares a smile. It’s hard for him to speak but he is able to crack a joke.
Pompa, an Appleton native, was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, in May of 2013. ALS is a neurological disease that attacks and kills the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that are responsible for controlling muscles.
Although his body is now frail, his eyes remain untouched. They look tired and a little older, but they are still kind. His bald head shines under the light and looks too big for his body. Even though he has every reason not to, Pompa continues to share a smile. Somehow he continues to radiate positivity.
Before his diagnosis, Pompa was an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed fishing and hunting. One of his passions is volleyball, which he played for 20 years. He coached both the middle school girls’ volleyball team and the New London Shenanigans, a girls’ club volleyball team.
He taught in the New London School District for 21 years, starting at Parkview Elementary before moving up to the Middle School as the sixth grade science teacher. As a teacher, Pompa had high expectations for his students. He was serious while also engaging his students with active learning. He continued to build his influence within the community through his involvement in the Community Theater and the Lion’s Club.
Although he is not able to coach anymore, he is still actively involved with the team, attending games as often as he can. Even after he was diagnosed, Pompa continued to teach until the end of the 2014 school year. By the end of the year he was teaching in a wheel chair but he never changed in the eyes of his students. He was still the caring teacher who expected his students to put forth their best.
“Even though as he went from September to May his health deteriorated all the way, it was no different… And he treated them the same way,” Peter Schulz, middle school principle said.
ALS captured mass attention this summer with the ALS Ice Bucket challenge. Dozens in the New London community took the challenge in honor of Pompa, including Schulz and other teachers at the middle school. Pompa himself did the Ice Bucket Challenge with 31 others who helped him raise over $1,200. He said that he wants none of the money for himself; instead he wants all of it to go towards finding a cure.
Pompa’s former volleyball player, Meagan Hogan, 20, also took the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge in support of her former mentor.
“Usually I don't do those kinds of social media challenges but since Pompa did so much for me while I was growing up I figured the least I could do for him was dump a bucket of water on myself,” Hogan said. “Every lesson he taught related to life and ways to better ourselves. I was drawn to his way of teaching. He was motivating and real… Pompa cares about everybody that comes into his life, and he makes it nearly impossible to not care about him in return.”
The Ice Bucket Challenge is not the only gauge of the community’s support for Pompa. Last May, the sixth grade student council put on a fundraiser at the high school to help raise money for Pompa’s medical bills. It included a bake sale and cookout, silent auction, dunk tank and T-shirt sale.
“It was carnival-like because we were raising money but at the same time family reunion-ish,” Schulz said.
Many people from the community were a part of the fundraiser including former students and colleagues of Pompa. Lori Dachelet, middle school reading specialist, organized fundraising events and continues to assist him with his financial needs. In August, she helped organize an ALS golf outing as well as participated in the Walk to Defeat ALS in Appleton.
“I take care of all of the business stuff. I’m like the secretary,” Dachelet said.
Dachelet’s 5-year-old daughter saw the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge on Good Morning America and took the challenge in “Jimmy’s” name. She then went on to nominate others in the community to do the challenge.
“My [3-year-old] boys continue in the bathtub to do the Ice Bucket Challenge for Jimmy almost every single time,” Dachelet said.
Friends and colleagues of Pompa helped drive him to and from work. They continue to take him grocery shopping and to community events. Since he doesn’t have any immediate family in the area they were, and continue to be, a help to him.
Pompa has remained influential in the community through his involvement with the New London Community Theater and the Lion’s Club.
“He was always kind of about giving back,” Schulz said
Pompa has always been independent but misses his simple life and being able to do what he wants when he wants.
“It takes everything. First my job, my hobbies, then my body, and eventually my life.”
Pompa is no longer able to fish, hunt or play volleyball but there is evidence of his passions everywhere. Fishing and hunting memorabilia hang on the white walls and mini fridge in his room and tokens from volleyball are evident. He is wearing a ‘New London Bulldogs Varsity’ T-shirt and hidden under a pile of clothes is a chair given to him by former players over seven years ago.
Although he is now bound to an electric wheel-chair, he continues to be involved in the community and the school. When he’s not attending games or visiting with friends, he spends his days watching television. He is currently living at Brewster Village Nursing Home in Appleton. Although Pompa is no longer able to fully participate in the community or activities that he loves, his influence continues to motivate and inspire those in the New London community.
He was my middle school volleyball coach, and my brother's 6th grade teacher. I remember always wanting him as a teacher because everyone always raved about how amazing he was. He really had a way with kids. He was the reason that I became so passionate with volleyball. He was also the reason I was able to make a great club team. He would work with anyone that asked him for help. I think the reason he was such a great teacher and coach was because he was strict, but he also had a great sense of humor and really cared for everyone. He pushed you because he knew you could do it and he wanted you to work to your full potential. He wasn't one for bull sh*t.
As a coach, he did little things to push and inspire us. At the end of every season, we had a party with the teams where we did an award ceremony. I ended up getting the net award (which turned out to be a Scooby-Doo butterfly net) because I was in the net the most out of anyone on the team. We also had team towels we had tie-dyed together that we got a little piece of at the end. I still have both the butterfly net and the piece of towel in my room at home.
Last semester I wrote a newspaper article in his honor. I was in a feature writing class where we had to write a newspaper profile about someone. Immediately, the only person that I wanted to do my article on was Pompa. I worked closely with him that semester working on the article. When I went to interview him the first time, the first thing he showed me was a chair in the corner of the room. It was the chair that my 8th grade volleyball team gave him so that he could sit on his own chair during the games. After all of these years he still had it.
Here's the article that I had wrote for him. And I would like to thank everyone who helped me put this together.
#Team Pomps
Sitting in a cramped room after his third visit with an attorney, James Pompa shares a smile. It’s hard for him to speak but he is able to crack a joke.
Pompa, an Appleton native, was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, in May of 2013. ALS is a neurological disease that attacks and kills the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that are responsible for controlling muscles.
Although his body is now frail, his eyes remain untouched. They look tired and a little older, but they are still kind. His bald head shines under the light and looks too big for his body. Even though he has every reason not to, Pompa continues to share a smile. Somehow he continues to radiate positivity.
Before his diagnosis, Pompa was an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed fishing and hunting. One of his passions is volleyball, which he played for 20 years. He coached both the middle school girls’ volleyball team and the New London Shenanigans, a girls’ club volleyball team.
He taught in the New London School District for 21 years, starting at Parkview Elementary before moving up to the Middle School as the sixth grade science teacher. As a teacher, Pompa had high expectations for his students. He was serious while also engaging his students with active learning. He continued to build his influence within the community through his involvement in the Community Theater and the Lion’s Club.
Although he is not able to coach anymore, he is still actively involved with the team, attending games as often as he can. Even after he was diagnosed, Pompa continued to teach until the end of the 2014 school year. By the end of the year he was teaching in a wheel chair but he never changed in the eyes of his students. He was still the caring teacher who expected his students to put forth their best.
“Even though as he went from September to May his health deteriorated all the way, it was no different… And he treated them the same way,” Peter Schulz, middle school principle said.
ALS captured mass attention this summer with the ALS Ice Bucket challenge. Dozens in the New London community took the challenge in honor of Pompa, including Schulz and other teachers at the middle school. Pompa himself did the Ice Bucket Challenge with 31 others who helped him raise over $1,200. He said that he wants none of the money for himself; instead he wants all of it to go towards finding a cure.
Pompa’s former volleyball player, Meagan Hogan, 20, also took the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge in support of her former mentor.
“Usually I don't do those kinds of social media challenges but since Pompa did so much for me while I was growing up I figured the least I could do for him was dump a bucket of water on myself,” Hogan said. “Every lesson he taught related to life and ways to better ourselves. I was drawn to his way of teaching. He was motivating and real… Pompa cares about everybody that comes into his life, and he makes it nearly impossible to not care about him in return.”
The Ice Bucket Challenge is not the only gauge of the community’s support for Pompa. Last May, the sixth grade student council put on a fundraiser at the high school to help raise money for Pompa’s medical bills. It included a bake sale and cookout, silent auction, dunk tank and T-shirt sale.
“It was carnival-like because we were raising money but at the same time family reunion-ish,” Schulz said.
Many people from the community were a part of the fundraiser including former students and colleagues of Pompa. Lori Dachelet, middle school reading specialist, organized fundraising events and continues to assist him with his financial needs. In August, she helped organize an ALS golf outing as well as participated in the Walk to Defeat ALS in Appleton.
“I take care of all of the business stuff. I’m like the secretary,” Dachelet said.
Dachelet’s 5-year-old daughter saw the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge on Good Morning America and took the challenge in “Jimmy’s” name. She then went on to nominate others in the community to do the challenge.
“My [3-year-old] boys continue in the bathtub to do the Ice Bucket Challenge for Jimmy almost every single time,” Dachelet said.
Friends and colleagues of Pompa helped drive him to and from work. They continue to take him grocery shopping and to community events. Since he doesn’t have any immediate family in the area they were, and continue to be, a help to him.
Pompa has remained influential in the community through his involvement with the New London Community Theater and the Lion’s Club.
“He was always kind of about giving back,” Schulz said
Pompa has always been independent but misses his simple life and being able to do what he wants when he wants.
“It takes everything. First my job, my hobbies, then my body, and eventually my life.”
Pompa is no longer able to fish, hunt or play volleyball but there is evidence of his passions everywhere. Fishing and hunting memorabilia hang on the white walls and mini fridge in his room and tokens from volleyball are evident. He is wearing a ‘New London Bulldogs Varsity’ T-shirt and hidden under a pile of clothes is a chair given to him by former players over seven years ago.
Although he is now bound to an electric wheel-chair, he continues to be involved in the community and the school. When he’s not attending games or visiting with friends, he spends his days watching television. He is currently living at Brewster Village Nursing Home in Appleton. Although Pompa is no longer able to fully participate in the community or activities that he loves, his influence continues to motivate and inspire those in the New London community.
In honor and memory of James Pompa, I donated $20 for ALS research in his name. I know that was what he would want. So please, I encourage everyone to donate so that we can find a cure.
Pompa, you will forever be in the hearts of everyone who's lives you touched. Thank you for being the amazing influence that you were. You will be missed.
XOXO Ericka
Pompa, you will forever be in the hearts of everyone who's lives you touched. Thank you for being the amazing influence that you were. You will be missed.
XOXO Ericka