Men's Track and Field | 2/28/2020 8:09:00 AM

FLUSHING, N.Y. (Feb. 28, 2020) - In the realm of collegiate athletics, the word "legend" gets thrown around with the same ferocity as one would find in the cages of an indoor track and field meet. Collegiate athletes who are dubbed as "legends" may go on to have stellar professional careers or may disappear into the annals of history and live a quiet, secluded life in corporate America. Some of these people, however, find themselves a second calling and become legendary for coming back to their alma mater---coming home, as it were---and making a mark on the program that had been a part of their story for the years that they donned the school's uniform.

Enter Joe Brancaccio. And, in a way, exit Joe Brancaccio, as well.
 

Brancaccio announced his retirement from the Queens College Track and Field staff following the Knights' performance at the East Coast Conference Indoor Track and Field Championship on Saturday (Feb. 22), as the longtime staffer will be leaving New York entirely and moving across the country to enjoy his respite. The Athletics and Recreation Department marked this occasion by throwing him a farewell party Wednesday (Feb. 26) to celebrate his life, legacy and his impact on the program as a whole.

Beginning as a storied competitor himself, Brancaccio racked up 16 conference championships in various events as an athlete at Queens College. During his time with the Knights, he competed in various events such as the hammer throw, discus, and shot put. His wealth of success led to Brancaccio earning NCAA All-American Honors in the hammer throw for the 1983 season, as well as an invite to compete in the Olympic Development Meet. The Queens College Athletics Hall of Famer held and continues to hold many throwing records at Queens College; and by the time he graduated in 1984 with his Bachelor's Degree in Physical Education, Brancaccio was a three-time NCAA qualifier and a five-time U.S. Olympic Indoor Invitational meet qualifier as well. 
 
Brancaccio did not just talk the talk when it came to the hammer throw; he also walked the walk. "Coach Joe," as he is known to the student-athletes who have been privy to be his pupils, has won two hammer throw events in the last nine years as part of the Long Island USA Track and Field Championships. He has been a fixture as part of the QC Armory, the strength and conditioning gym where he has worked out alongside his student-athletes to both teach them the right way to train and also to continue to be in his best shape to compete.

After a storied career, Brancaccio returned to Queens College as an assistant coach for track and field for nearly a decade. Here, of course, is where the second half of the legendary story continues. Under Brancaccio's tutelage and direction, the Knights have won seven consecutive hammer throw events at the East Coast Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The most recent two were from now-junior Andrew Saulpaugh, who remarked that Brancaccio is "more than a coach, he is an incredibly caring person who looks out for his athletes in every situation imaginable. He subtly changes people in a positive direction and for the most part, they don't even know it. This man should be commended for his amazingly unique coaching skills that will never be seen again. I wouldn't even be close to where I am today if it wasn't for [him.]"
 

In his one stint as Interim Head Coach, Brancaccio led the Knights to twenty All-Conference accolades including eleven in the indoor season and nine in the outdoor season. Then-freshman Jared Coupe won the outdoor hammer throw championship and the legacy continued as Brancaccio relinquished head coaching duties to current program leader Robert Davis.

"Coach Joe," Davis commented, "is what all coaches strive to be and he has done what all coaches strive to do in building a legacy. His name is well-known in the Northeast region in the track and field circles and specifically within the throws area. As a coach, we try to build a reputation for success but Coach Joe has done more than that. He has helped to change the lives of our student-athletes and create better citizens of them as well."
 

That legacy will continue on as Brancaccio yields the coaching of the throwing circle to a former pupil, Greg Gromling, who won All-ECC accolades under Brancaccio's leadership. The way a legacy is judged is two-fold: how it was perceived in the time that the person was around for it and how it continues after that person has gone and left it to another person. For Coach Joe Brancaccio, the two-word term "living legend" can be stamped upon a career of success in competing and in coaching but also in mentoring the great throwers of the future at Queens College.

And with that, a legacy is complete and a legend is deemed to be one forever.