In October 1995, two months after he landed the job as Bel Air High School’s boys’ volleyball coach, Filaretos Tsomos, who was born and raised in Greece, celebrated one of life’s major milestones.
He and his wife, Allison, welcomed their first child, a daughter named Emmy.
Today, Emmy Tsomos, soon to turn 31, is a high school English teacher. She graduated from Towson University and now chairs the English department at Aberdeen High School.
Her father, meanwhile, is still doing what he’s always loved doing, and that’s coaching volleyball at Bel Air High.
He’s 57 now. His hair is grayer and even missing in some spots. He doesn’t actively participate in practices like he once did.
“I am not running and jumping anymore,” said Tsomos, who is known by everyone he regularly encounters in America as Larry. “That’s not happening anymore. Now, it’s little static demonstrations, and that’s about it.”
Yet, Tsomos still loves the job passionately and would not want to be doing anything else. In 2019, he won his 300th match as Bel Air High’s volleyball coach, and now that number is creeping closer to 400. He has won 21 Harford County regular-season and tournament titles combined.
“When I hear how long Tsomos has been coaching volleyball, I am not surprised,” said Charlie Svoboda, a senior opposite hitter for the Bobcats. “When I hear him coaching or telling us what to do, it sounds as if I’m learning from the creator of the sport. I can’t say enough good things about this man. He truly is a cool guy, and I’m glad I have been able to play for him for these past couple of years.”
Tsomos, who does not keep close tabs on his career win total, estimated in late September that he was around 370 or 380. So, it might take another season or two to reach the next benchmark.
But that’s not what drives him or why he does the job.
“I just absolutely love what I am doing,” Tsomos said. “I wake up every morning and, as I say, once I go past the first minute and the shock of the alarm, I’m very excited for what I do in my life.”
Growing up in Greece, Tsomos split his time between Athens and his mother’s home island of Corfu. He played volleyball until he was 19 and rose as high as the second and third divisions in Greece. He was a middle hitter until his modest height no longer made that plausible.
But then other priorities in his life began to take over. He had come to America as a high school exchange student and met his wife when they were students at Overlea High School.
His first name contains the letters L, A, R, E. And some friends, who had trouble pronouncing his actual first name, told him they sort of heard something that sounds like Larry in there. So, that became his adopted American name.
Tsomos went back to Greece to serve in the army and attend college but kept in touch with Allison through written letters. Long-distance phone calls of any length were much too expensive. Tsomos said they probably had 10 minutes to talk on the phone tops on the rare occasions when they did.
So, they stayed in touch through correspondence. They eventually married and settled in Harford County. As a compromise, they spend two months every summer in Greece, often with their five daughters, ranging in age from 20 to 30.
When Tsomos first decided to settle in America with Allison, he did not have a job. He did go through the process of obtaining his teaching certification, however.
“I just started driving around Harford County looking for long-term substitute jobs because it was the middle of August, and nobody really had any openings,” he said. “So, I’m like, ‘All right, I am just going to start substituting.'”
He was interested in coaching volleyball, too, and was referred to the Harford County Board of Education. Through members of the Board, Tsomos learned that the boys’ volleyball coaching job was coming open at Bel Air High.
Boys’ volleyball coaching jobs are hard to come by in Maryland because Harford and Montgomery counties are the only ones in the state that offer high school boys’ volleyball.
“That is a mystery,” Tsomos said. “As a sport, it’s very inexpensive. We have the gym. We have the net. We have the poles. We have the balls. Girls play let’s say Monday and Wednesday. Boys can play Tuesday and Thursday. A lot of times, boosters contribute with the uniforms.
“All you have to do is pay for a bus — and really, we’re only traveling half of the county — and the refs. Why isn’t everyone doing this?”
The morning after speaking with members of the Board, Tsomos got a call from then-Bel Air High athletic director Phyllis Hemmes, who invited him in for an interview.
“She goes, ‘I heard you want to coach,'” Tsomos said. “I said, ‘Sure. I would love to.’ And they hired me, and the rest is history, right?”
Tsomos, who has taught physical education at Magnolia Middle School in Joppatowne since 1998, has no plans to stop coaching because he still loves the job.
“I feel like, if it happens, it might be a sudden decision,” he said of retiring from coaching. “Like, one year, I am going to say, ‘I’m fulfilled.’ Or, ‘I’m tired.’ I don’t know what would lead me to that decision. And then, if I say that, it will still probably be a long negotiation.”
Asked about his longevity at Bel Air High and what has kept him coaching there for so long, Tsomos said, “What has kept me is the quality of the people, by far. Year after year, the community, the type of athletes and the personalities of the athletes and the parents and how they raise their kids, everything, it’s heartwarming every time I walk in.
“It’s terrific kids. I’ve been surrounded by high-level students and individuals of very high integrity. So that keeps you coming back. And the successes, of course, of the team, contribute to the fact that I want to come back again.”
Photo Credit: Luke Jackson/PressBox