Trip takes coach back to roots

Second in a series

ROME — Jim Harbaugh has spent a lifetime in meeting rooms.

From a playing career that spanned two decades to a coaching career entering its 16th season, the eccentric Michigan head coach is familiar with the structure of meetings and the dull trappings inside the dreary rooms in which they’re hosted.

But it wasn’t always boring and monotonous. The summits in Coach Harbaugh’s early years were led by Grandpa Joe Cipiti and playing host was a northeast Ohio McDonald’s.

Grandpa Joe, as he was affectionately known by family, immigrated to the United States from Sicily as a 4-year-old. 

He lived in suburban Cleveland for 94 years, working for 85 of them, and, in the process, becoming a revered figure in the family.

Mr. Cipiti died in 2014 at the age of 98. He credited long- lasting good health to working every day, drinking olive oil — which he said was a good lubrication for all your insides — and taking leisurely strolls.

“No. 1 in the family was Grandpa Joe Cipiti. There’s no doubt about it,” Coach Harbaugh said in an extensive interview with The Blade. “He went to school until he was 13, and then he had to go work full-time to support his family. The man had a full-time job from 13 to 98 and worked every day. That’s as good an example as it gets.”

It was the gatherings at McDonald’s that set Coach Harbaugh and his brother, John, the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, on a blue-collar path. The brothers’ formative years were shaped by grinding work, stories that evolved into lasting lessons, and a dose of tough love.

The 6 a.m. trips to McDonald’s would be part breakfast, part blueprint. Mr. Cipiti, who owned a nursery, would gather with his grandsons and formulate the day’s plans. He would meticulously tell them who was doing what and when they would be doing it.

“It would be like a strategy meeting over McDonald’s breakfast,” said the Wolverines’ coach.

As the Michigan football team experiences a week in Rome, the Harbaugh clan has tagged along for an excursion that provides more than just visits to the Vatican and Colosseum. There’s a personal touch, even though they won’t make it to Grandpa Cipiti’s birthplace in Sicily. They’ll be walking in the footsteps of family.

“I know it will be on my mom’s mind. That’s in our blood,” Jim Harbaugh said. “It’s sentimental.”

Grandpa Joe’s life

Joseph Cipiti came to the United States in 1920, two years after his father arrived in Cleveland. The family was in search of a better life. Food was so scarce in Italy that the Cipitis would eat dandelion salads and wash their clothes on rocks in the river. 

When Joe left Italy, his name was pronounced with a “ch” sound. After arriving at Ellis Island, it changed to an “s” sound.

“It really is a great American story,” John Harbaugh said.

Two memories from the journey across the Atlantic became lasting images for Joe Cipiti. He set off for America with a prized possession — a U.S. nickel. It was given to him by his father in case he needed spending money. To Joe’s horror, he dropped the nickel in the wooden slats that were used as a floor.

“It was gone, he couldn’t reach it,” John Harbaugh said. “That was the thing that he always remembered, dropping that nickel and thinking how his father would be disappointed.”

An ornery uncle frightened Joe by picking him up and dangling him over the ship’s railing. Joe always remembered the fear that he felt.

“He told that story with numbing repetition,” said Jack Harbaugh, Joe Cipiti’s son-in- law and the father of John, Jim, and their sister, Joani.

At 13, Joe Cipiti began a life of work. He became an expert mechanic, teaching classes at a Cleveland trade school, and a landscaper. It was those skills that he attempted to pass down to his grandchildren, with a “teach a man to fish” mantra.

“He was a wonderful storyteller,” Jim Harbaugh said. “He taught through stories. They really were the best way to remember things. I remember so many of his stories.”

Pumping gas, changing tires and oil, yard work, painting, and fishing were just some of the crafts that he taught grandsons John and Jim. When John and Jim pumped gas at Joe Cipiti’s filling station, he always told them to ask the customers if they wanted their windows washed.

“We loved it,” Jim Harbaugh said. “Pumping gas when you’re 9 years old, it was just awesome. When you’re 12 years old and you get to drive a tractor, it’s pretty cool.”

A simple investment could have changed Joe Cipiti’s fortunes — literally. 

He traveled to a tiny outpost in the Nevada desert in the 1940s called Las Vegas. It was on that visit that he was offered a chance to buy two acres of land on a small thoroughfare that was named Las Vegas Boulevard.

Joe Cipiti balked at the opportunity. As legend has it he said, “Why in the world would I buy two acres of sand in the middle of the desert?”

Working with grandpa

Summer vacation for John, Jim, and their sister Joani amounted to time spent with grandparents. And the word vacation carried a different meaning for the Harbaughs. It was more closely aligned with work, a noun defined as activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result.

“He had a really big impact on our lives,” John Harbaugh said about summers at Grandpa Joe’s. “We got all the dirty work, all the weed pulling. We got chastised for not doing it right on a regular basis. We only worked for all we could eat. We didn’t get paid in money. I think it was pretty costly in the end for him. He had an old 1960s model Ford Bronco that we would drive around and a Ford truck. That’s how we learned to drive.”

One project ended in disaster.

As John tells it, 8-year-old Jim was whining about not being allowed to drive the lawnmower. Grandpa Cipiti relented and gave Jim permission with a stern order: Do not cut down the sapling trees. 

A few minutes later, a row of little oak trees was mowed down with Jim behind the wheel. He would undergo a two-year probation before he returned to the driver’s seat of the mower.

“When they were young, they would say, ‘Remember what grandpa said about working hard,’ ” said Jackie Harbaugh, Joe Cipiti’s daughter and the mother of John, Jim, and Joani. “That’s how I grew up with my mom and dad. They expected you to do the very best you could.”

There’s a constant tribute to Grandpa Joe Cipiti — and Grandpa Bill Harbaugh — by the Ravens and Michigan. The Harbaughs outfit their players with blue mechanic shirts with their name stitched in cursive above the left breast pocket. It’s a nod to both grandfathers who wore the lunch pail regalia to work every day.

When they returned home, a cold beer would await Bill, who worked on the railroad, while Joe would crack open a Pepsi. Both would untuck their shirts, signaling that the work day was officially over.

“That was time to relax,” John Harbaugh said. “We want our uniforms tucked in, and when the job is done, you can untuck your jersey and celebrate. That’s where our philosophy comes on that.”

“It’s an obvious motivational tool. Blue-collar mentality, we’re going to work hard,” Jim Harbaugh said of the shirts. “But I also ask them to remember the person in their lives that did the hard jobs, didn’t go to college, weren’t doing a job they loved, but were doing a job because they had to put a roof over someone’s head and feed a family.

“Because of Grandpa Joe, Bill Harbaugh, and my parents, I was standing on third base. All I had to do was get from third to home,” he said. “It gives me chills to think about the attitude and gratitude I have to Joe Cipiti and Bill Harbaugh, and, even more, the example of the work ethic and taking care of a family. It leads to, in my case, a great life. I want to do that for my kids.”

Grandpa on the field

After a lifetime of Joe Cipiti supplying his grandsons with memories, John and Jim Harbaugh were able to provide Grandpa Joe with indelible moments. He was a routine fixture around their teams, giving speeches and just being one of the guys.

“He’d come walking in and the team would be like, ‘Grandpa Joe!’ ” John said. “Joe Flacco and Ray Lewis knew Grandpa Joe. Haloti Ngata and Terrell Suggs loved him because he would always sit on the defensive line end of the bench. He had no fear. He would walk anywhere into anything.”

At the 1996 Pro Bowl, a cousin wanted an autograph from Ted Marchibroda, Jim Harbaugh’s coach at Indianapolis. Mr. Marchibroda was at midfield during warmups when Grandpa Cipiti made his move for the autograph. A security guard failed in his attempt to stop him, who proceeded to discuss Italy for 30 minutes with the coach.

During Jim Harbaugh’s career with the Colts, Grandpa Cipiti visited and fell asleep underneath a tree at the team’s facility.

“He was getting a good nap,” Jim said. “He always said the best sleep you can get is on the grass under a shady tree.”

Joe Cipiti owned a minivan and drove it cross-country deep into his 90s. He would spend four or five days in Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Baltimore, San Francisco, Bloomington, Ind., or whatever city John, Jim, or Joani lived in, and then find another destination. 

And he did so without the radio. Grandpa Cipiti wanted to think when he drove, and the radio was cluttered outside noise. To this day, Jim Harbaugh doesn’t drive with the radio on.

“It was so fun,” Jim said. “He would just blend in. He would tell players stories. I have a great picture of Grandpa Joe sitting on the end of the 49ers bench next to some offensive linemen. Just classic.”

There’s a story behind that photo, of course. Grandpa Cipiti was on the field for pregame warm ups, but Jim saved him a press box seat so he would be out of harm’s way during the game. Jim knew his grandpa carried a temper and didn’t want to break the news to him. A 49ers staffer broke the news to Joe, who was none too pleased.

“ ‘I’ll be damned if I’m going up to the press box! I will be on the field when this game starts and I will be on the field when this game ends!’ ” Jack Harbaugh, Jim and John’s father, recalled. “Then he copped an attitude and sat on the bench where the offensive line sits, and they didn’t bat an eye. There’s these five huge offensive linemen sitting next to Joe. No one was going to tell him he couldn’t sit on the bench.”

Super Bowl XLVII was the apex. Jackie called her father after the 49ers and Ravens each won their conference championship games and made the mistake of telling him that New Orleans, the site of the Super Bowl, was a long way from Cleveland.

“Dammit,” Joe Cipiti shouted, “I will be at the Super Bowl!”

He was.

The Harbaughs had a dual press conference in New Orleans, which was attended by the family. In a group photo, Jack Harbaugh said, “Joe had a smile on his face that I had never seen before nor was duplicated after that moment.”

Said Jackie: “The culmination was the Super Bowl. He was 97 years old. It was a great moment for him.”

To the end, one thing drove Joe Cipiti: family.

“To be his grandson, lucky, lucky, lucky,” Jim Harbaugh said. “Very, very wise man, Joe Cipiti, and a great family man.”

Contact Kyle Rowland at:

krowland@theblade.com,

419-724-6110, or on

Twitter @KyleRowland.