Cancer robbed Thomas Dimitroff.
The Falcons’ general manager lost the chance for his father and namesake to see all that he has achieved. He lost the counsel of the man who shared his passion for and likewise dedicated his life to the sport of football.
Yet he knows that had renal-cell carcinoma not won the war with Tom Dimitroff 16 years ago, there would have been visits to the son’s spacious office in Flowery Branch. No doubt the conversations would turn to talent evaluation, defensive schemes and building a team-first concept.
Dimitroff had poignant talks before his father’s passing — something not all children are fortunate enough to experience. At the time Dimitroff was an area scout for the Lions. He had come a long way from the young man who started by doing odds jobs, like lining practice fields, just to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a coach.
As father sat, wrapped in a blanket, he shared some final thoughts.
“I think one of the moments that really sticks out was when my dad was basically on his deathbed,” Dimitroff said. “He was in his final month with his battle with cancer. I remember sitting down and having a very pointed conversation with him about where I was in my career. I remember him saying, ‘Listen, you keep doing what you are doing. Keep your passion. Keep your drive. Continue to stand for what you believe in as far as your approach to life on and off the field.’”
Those conversations did more than validate. They paved the way for Dimitroff to move into a position much further along than his dream to be “the best secondary coach in the National Football League.” He would become the director of college scouting for the Patriots before named Falcons GM in 2008.
There were valuable lessons to be learned by fatherly experience.
“I’ve talked to my mom a lot about this and even my father before he passed away,” Dimitroff said. “My father, by his own admission, wanted to go by way of a heart attack because he wanted it to be quick. He realized through all of the nine months of pain and suffering that we were able to share on so many levels that we would have never been able to. Talk about career paths. Talk about approach.
“I remember my dad saying maybe he could have been a little more politically correct and maybe he could have gotten further in this career. But he grew up in a generation that was much more rough and tumble, wear it on your sleeve.
“He was able to share in those ideas about where he came up short and where he would advise me to do things differently. There is no question that I was blessed to have the opportunity to do that — and be in a career that he was so incredibly passionate about that he spent 40 years in his own career.”
Tom Dimitroff was of the no-nonsense Vince Lombardi era. He worked his way up the football ranks with stops that included being a coach in the Canadian Football League, as head coach at the University of Guelph in Ontario — where Thomas played and graduated — and eventually returned near his hometown in Ohio to be a scout for the Browns.
As Dimitroff says, he was “born into football from the day I came into this world.” It was the norm as a young boy to ride his bicycle for miles after school to be at his father’s facility and watch practices — math problems be darned.
“He would look to the other side [of the field] of his night practices, and I would be over there playing catch or running up and down the sidelines,” Dimitroff said. “I had such a passion for the game and being around it. Those are some fond memories.
“I would see him storming across the field, dropping his whistle, and I knew he was headed right for me to say ‘Why in the hell are you not at home working on your homework?’ Yet he would kind of smile because he knew how passionate I was about this game.”
He knows it’s a cliché, but the team concept his father, and others, drove into him while he was growing into his current position is a lesson he turns to time and again.
“I remember my dad making sure he was very, very clear about not being a young, know-it-all, me-guy on a football team because there was no place for that in this sport,” Dimitroff said.
“You can understand where that is coming from. It’s coming from that old-school generation, that Lombardi-era guys. They were vehemently opposed to the “Sports Center” generation that is out there today with some of the thumping of the chest. That was something that was always driven into my head, my being and my understanding of this game.”
On a day to celebrate fatherhood, Dimitroff can reflect on his memories and lessons learned from his upbringing. They are not just about football, but life.
Thanks, Dad.
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