Joseph Giardina recently returned to the Wantagh High School field where he played lacrosse more than 10 years ago — but this time, he showed up in a New York City Fire Department uniform.
Giardina, 31, a member of Wantagh’s 2012 graduating class and its lacrosse team, played defense for the FDNY against the New York City Police Department in the 30th annual Battle of the Badges on Nov. 1. The FDNY won the matchup, 15-7, in front of hundreds of spectators.
In his fifth-grade yearbook at Wantagh Elementary School, Giardina was asked, “Where do you see yourself in 20 years?” Giardina wrote, “fireman,” and this year, that dream became reality.
“I was a teacher and a football and lacrosse coach at Long Island City High School, in Astoria. Then, I got the call for the FDNY, and I had to take it,” Giardina, who’s been assigned to Ladder Company 117 in Astoria, Queens since May, said.
The FDNY vs. NYPD sports rivalry is a long-standing tradition featuring multiple annual events like the Heroes of Hockey game and the Fun City Bowl football game.
“Two of the biggest rivalries in sports are Army-Navy and FDNY-NYPD,” Giardina, a Wantagh native who now lives in Astoria, said. “That just goes across the board in all sports.”
As a tradition over the years, the FDNY and NYPD have faced off in several sporting events, including hockey, baseball, soccer, golf, football and lacrosse, often for charity and to honor fallen first responders.
“They all respect each other and respect everything that they do off the field,” Giardina said. “But the second that helmet gets buckled and you're in between the lines, you hate each other.”
The game was initially set for Sept. 6 at John J. Burns Park in Massapequa, but the matchup had to be rescheduled due to the death of Joseph Herman, a 36-year-old firefighter at Ladder Company 111 in Brooklyn.
Herman died on Aug. 31 after a crash on the westbound lanes near the Straight Path exits on the Southern State Parkway, where he was thrown off his motorcycle while attempting to change lanes, according to state police.
Herman’s funeral service was held on Sept. 6 at St. William the Abbot Church in Seaford.
In a Sept. 1 Instagram tribute to him, the FDNY lacrosse team wrote: “He was more than just a teammate to us. He was a fireman who dedicated his life to protecting others, and a devoted father whose love and strength guided his family every day. On the field, he gave everything he had.”
“We played for Joe,” Lt. Ryan Phelan, of Ladder Company 131 in Brooklyn and coach on the FDNY lacrosse team, said.
The original plan was to play the game at Seaford High School, Herman’s alma mater, but that idea fell through due to logistical issues, according to Phelan.
Around the same time, through friends at the FDNY, Wantagh High School Principal Paul Guzzone found out that the departments were in search of a game site and quickly got to work.
“I'm not sure if you have anything, but if you don't, or if something falls through, please know you'll have a home in Wantagh,” Guzzone recalled telling Phelan.
Guzzone added that he also was aware of Herman’s death, and that it was the reason for rescheduling the event. “I'm a Seaford resident myself, and I know he's from Seaford,” he said. “I knew they postponed the FDNY-NYPD lacrosse game out of respect because he passed away the week prior.”
The plan to host the game at Wantagh High School received the full support of Wantagh School District Superintendent John McNamara and Athletic Director Jennifer Keane.
“It brought a nice sense of pride to our committee to do something like this for our school,” Guzzone said. “Our community really supported this initiative because of what our police and firefighters and nurses and military all means to everyone here in Wantagh.”
The Wantagh 9/11 Committee, a school-run group that supports student education around the Sept. 11 attacks, sponsored the game. Guzzone, who received a halftime plaque for his organizational efforts, said the atmosphere was unforgettable.
“They were fighting for their brother,” Guzzone said of the team’s dedication to Herman. “They were able to get that one for him.”
Phelan explained that the outreach from the Wantagh community impressed him more than any other year that he’s been on the team. “The real story was how the community showed out,” he said. “How all these people turned out for the game, and helped us put it on.”
Giardina thanked Guzzone, McNamara and Keane for helping to organize the event, adding that his return home was a resounding success. “I had a lot of memories just flooding right back,” he said. “It's kind of hard to put into words. For me, it was a homecoming.”
Looking ahead, Giardina said he hopes to join the FDNY hockey or football teams after completing his 18-month probationary period with the department. He credited his grandfather, Anthony Giardina — a New York City teacher for 35 years who died last March at age 90 — with being his role model.
“You don't stop playing because you get old,” he said. “You get old because you stop playing.”
