Football
Favorite athlete: Penei Sewell
Favorite team: Baltimore Ravens
Favorite memory competing in sports: Getting my first varsity pancake my sophomore year
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: One game when I was a captain, we were the away team and I lost my jersey. I was just announced as “Number 60. We don’t know his name.”
Music on playlist: My pregame playlist has songs from Meek Mill, Big Sean, Tee Grizzley, Roddy Ricch, and Chief Keef
Future plans: Play football in college and hopefully have a successful career
Words to live by: “Life has no limitations, except the ones you make.” — Les Brown
One goal before turning 30: Buying my own house
One thing people don’t know about me:. Growing up on Christmas Eve I would dress up with my Pop Pop as Santa and an Elf and visit houses and hospitals.
By GORDON GLANTZ
While the Harry S. Truman football team won less games in the entire career of senior lineman Landon Vingless than some rival schools have in one year, he will leave with his head held high and eyes focused on the future.
He emerges as a true winner who has learned that there is more to the experience than what the scoreboard says.
“Yes, definitely,” said Vingless. “There are a bunch of lessons that I learned on things I could do better and how to improve.”
Saying that Vingless “represents what it means to be a Tiger,” Truman athletic director Tim Monaghan is among
the loudest voices in the choir of those singing the praises of Vingless.
“He has a 4.0 GPA, is in the Top 30 of his class academically,” said Monaghan. “Landon is someone who probably does not get the recognition for being a great student-athlete and for always setting a great example for his classmates and teammates to follow.”
A second-team Suburban One League Continental Conference choice as an offensive lineman, Vingless was in the football program since his freshman year. He was starting by the end of his sophomore year and found himself entrenched in a leadership role by his junior year.
This past season, his last, the Tigers won their first game – a non-league clash with Kensington – and then failed to find the win column again, finishing up at 1-9.
“Our season didn’t go the way we wanted it to go,” said Vingless. “It was disappointing, but with all the stuff we had going on throughout the whole team, it was kind of inevitable.”
Those in-house issues including injuries and players unable to get on the field for personal reasons.
“We starting losing a lot of players,” he lamented. “We didn’t necessarily have the same team that we started out with.”
While it wasn’t always easy, the captain saw the need to take the reins.
“I tried to keep our players motivated, keep them going, and make sure they kept their heads up every practice and in games,” he said. “I just keep on pushing them.
“I’m very proud of the guys that made it through to the end. They kept their heads up. They kept on playing great, straight to last snap. We did the best that we could.”
Going Both Ways
As attrition on the roster set in, Vingless – a 6-3, 280-pounder – didn’t get much time to rest.
“I played defense, too,” he said. “I played both nose (tackle) and (defensive) end for us, once we started losing guys.”
It was during the turmoil of the former head coach resigning before a game with Council Rock North that Vingless drew his first starting assignment and recorded his first pancake block.
Then a sophomore, it was the moment he knew he could play with the big boys.
“We were in a heavy formation, and I was the extra offensive lineman,” he recalled. “When it came down to it,
their defensive end lined up right in front of me. I blew him off the ball, and the next thing you know, he was on the ground.
“It was a big boost of confidence. What a great moment. It finally helped me to realize who I was, and that I could play against everyone that we played.”
It also proved that his words to life by – “Life has no limitations, except the ones you make” (from author and motivational speaker Les Brown) – were well worth following.
“It meant a lot to me because, when I was younger, I was always limiting myself,” he said. “Then, once I stopped, I realized how much I could do.”
Meanwhile, an older friend and teammate, Elizar Mercado, was also a source inspiration.
“Elizar was just a guy that everyone looked up to,” said Vingless. “He was a hard worker and a great leader.
“After becoming closer with him, I realized how much I wanted to influence people the way he did.”
Being Accountable
As he looks ahead, Vingless is definite about continuing his career at the next level.
So far, he is in talks with Division II and Division III schools in Maryland and West Virginia.
“It’s going pretty well so far,” he said. “I just want to go as far as I can go with it.”
An aspiring accountant, a career path that crystallized for Vinglass recently, it is a matter of looking for the right academic fit and also a program with a winning tradition.
“That’s what I’ve been looking at,” he said. “I mainly focus on the education part of it, but I’m also definitely taking the football programs into consideration. I definitely want to improve upon my football ability. I want to be part of a winning program.
“I went through two coaching staffs (at Truman). It was, actually, very tough. My freshman year, it wasn’t a normal high school year. My sophomore year, when my coach resigned the day before a game, it kind of just threw our whole season into sort of a spiral. Then, that following season, we started later than everyone else with weightlifting and practices and all of that. We started falling behind.
Vingless, who volunteers for causes like blood drives, said he became a solid student out of fear.
“I always saw how hard my mom was on my sister, so I just figured that it would be better if I was just harder on myself,” he explained. “When I was younger, she was harder on her about her grades, so it just kind of put the fear into me not to get bad grades. That’s why I just pushed myself harder.”
The Roots of Leadership
Vingless didn’t start as a football-only athlete, but that’s just how it evolved for him.
“I played a lot of sports when I was younger,” he said. “I played baseball, soccer and wrestled. I played all the basics.”
Once he got to high school, he also dabbled in track and field for two years.
“I did the discus, shot put and javelin,” said Vingless. “I gave it up last year, just so that I could focus on football in my senior year.”
That focus was not only a personal dedication to the weight room but also establishing himself there as leader.
“I was just working with the team, and practicing with the team, and making sure we were where we needed to be and build a bond,” said Vingless, who played a stretch of his junior year with a soft cast on his hand the final seven weeks of the season. “Honestly, the weight room is where the leadership all started. From there, it all carried over onto the field during the summer.”
Christmas Spirit
As big as he is, physically, Vingless has a bigger heart.
He inherited it from beloved “Pop Pop,” Michael Castelli, with whom he visited homes and schools and as a Santa and Elf team.
With his grandfather dealing with some health issues, Vingless is considering switching over to the role of Santa Claus this year.
“I’m not too sure how my Pop Pop first got into it,” said Vingless. “All I know is that, when I was younger, him and my sister would go out and do it.
“One Christmas Eve, they invited me out to go along. Ever since then, we have just been doing it every year. This year, it is a little bit iffy because my Pop Pop is having medical issues, but I am going to try and dress up and go out and take over for him. I’m going to try and pull it off this year.”
Giving back the community has been satisfying for Vingless.
“Honestly, it is one of the better feelings that I’ve had, just by knowing that I’m making someone else’s day by coming in all dressed up,” he said. “It really doesn’t take anything hard on your part to be able to b be part of making someone else’s day.”
In a way, Vingless is paying it forward for all the love and support he has received.
“I would definitely like to thank my whole family – my mom (Valerie Suljic), my dad (Greg Vinglass), my sister (Caitlyn Suljic), my stepdad (Ferid Suljic),” he said. “They have always been to every game. They try to make it to everywhere else that I go – all the camps and college visits. They have all been very supportive of me, ever since I was younger. My Pop Pop, also. He always made it out to every game, too. It was just sad for me that he wasn’t able to make it out this year.”
