For someone who didn’t start playing hockey until the age of 11 — an unheard-of delay for players who typically begin skating as soon as they can walk — forward Thomas “Tommy” Papa found no trouble making up for lost time as a Tiger.
After the Cherry Hill, New Jersey, native took to the ice for the first time as a toddler and was less than satisfied, he decided that he was better suited to play on the floor than on ice.
“My dad says that he put me on skates when I was two and I hated it,” Papa told The Tiger. “I just ended up playing hockey on the floor every day, and then I started playing roller hockey when I was six.
“I started so much later,” he added. “Everyone else I’ve played with since I was 15 has said, ‘Yeah, I’ve been playing since I was three’… Meanwhile, I was just playing floor hockey.”
While his first stint on the ice didn’t immediately spark his love for playing the game, hockey has always occupied space in the graduate’s heart.
“[My family] would have hockey on the TV every day,” Papa said. “I had a helmet and put on the pads, and I would make my parents announce me running out and make them do the national anthem and stuff while we were watching.”
By the time he hit high school, Papa traded his roller skates for ice skates — and it became obvious very early on that he made the right decision. Not only did his travel team win a state championship when he was 13, he also led his high school program to three consecutive regional championship titles during his sophomore, junior and senior years. As a senior, he was rewarded with captaincy for his hard work and positive attitude both on and off the ice.
“That was awesome. My favorite memories before Clemson were from that whole season,” he told The Tiger. “I had a great time with hockey my whole life. That’s probably why I fell in love with it, because everything just went well all the time.”
Following his high school graduation, Papa enrolled at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, but was ultimately dissatisfied with his experience.
“I went to Rowan for two years, and after those two years, I was like, ‘This just feels like high school again,’” he said. “I wanted to experience more because I knew I only get one college life, and I’m lucky enough to have the parents that I do, so I can do stuff that my friends couldn’t. So I started looking at schools in the South because I knew there were bigger football schools where I could get the full college experience.”
Then he discovered Clemson’s hockey program.
“I knew I wanted to play hockey because I actually stopped playing for those two years that I was at Rowan, just because I wanted some free time to myself, since I missed out on everything in high school,” Papa continued. “The coach here at the time was the only person who guaranteed me a spot [on the team]. I ended up coming to a practice here, and I played really well, and he told me as soon as I was done, ‘if you come here, you’re gonna have a spot on the team’… I had everything I wanted right here.”
He didn’t know it then, but his decision to come to Clemson would change his life in ways he couldn’t have even dreamed of.
“I’m just going to miss hanging out with my friends,” he added. “That was the best part of playing hockey here. Even when I first was trying out for the team, the coach told me I had a guaranteed spot, which I knew was so vital because I was like, ‘this is going to be my social life.’ Like, if I don’t have this, I’m going to be in trouble.”
Since his arrival on campus, those teammates gave him more than just a social life — they gave him friendship and memories that will last a lifetime.
He noted that he has always been close to different teammates he’s had, but Clemson was unlike any other team he’s been on.
“I’ve had so many ups and downs in college, and they’ve obviously been there for me in good times, and we have a blast together,” Papa told The Tiger. “But I think something that a lot of guys don’t know is that there are times…there are times that like you’re gonna feel [bad], like your life could be in shambles. And the guys on this team have been there for me every step of the way, never hesitated to help me.”
Papa added that he spends a lot of time with his teammates, and that everyday is “so much fun.”
“I spend so much time with these guys. Every day is so much fun,” he said. “But a memory that stands out to me is when we were in March Madness last year, our basketball team had that run, and I was just hanging out with the hockey team all day, just doing our usual stuff, and then that night was crazy. That’s a night I’ll never forget. And hockey-wise, the trips to Nationals and stuff stood out to me because everything felt so real and official and like we were actually playing for something huge.”
Above all else, Papa is grateful for Clemson and the club hockey program for giving him the college experience he always wanted with people who were better than he could have ever imagined, and he believes that his friends will remember him as fondly as he will remember them.
“I think the way I’m going to be remembered is the same way I want to be,” Papa told The Tiger. “I think I’ve always been a team guy who was willing to do anything for the team, and a good friend who’s always there to help the other guys out.”
Upon his graduation, Papa plans to move back up North to pursue a career in business analytics.
