Rob Gronkowski: WNY's most successful football player of the quarter century
Gronkowski is noted as the most successful player of The News’ Quarter Century Team for his high school, college and pro careers.
In Western New York, only a handful of names elicit the kind of reverence reserved for legends. One of them belongs to a guy who played for Williamsville North High School before becoming the most dominant tight end in NFL history. He was known then as Robert Gronkowski.
He’s known now internationally as Gronk.
But before he was a champion, a brand and a living meme, he was just Rob. Around the Buffalo area, he’s remembered as a big kid with an even bigger heart, whose life was a series of small, grinding moments that ultimately forged a legend.
It started at home, in the crucible of a fiercely competitive family. The “beatings,” as he put it, he took from his three older brothers and their friends weren’t just about sibling rivalry; they were a proving ground, a baptism by fire that instilled a toughness, a resilience that would define him.
“I learned here in Buffalo to never back down and to never give up,” he said. That was his foundation.
Gronkowski is noted as the most successful player of The News’ Quarter Century Team for his high school, college and pro careers.
Amherst native Rob Gronkowski, in a 2006 file photo, on the Williamsville North basketball team. He did not graduate from Williamsville North,
where he was All-Western New York as a junior, choosing to spend his senior year at Woodland Hills High School outside Pittsburgh. Buffalo News file photo
In high school, it all began to manifest. His former coach, Mike Mammoliti, saw it firsthand. It wasn’t just a matter of size, it was the way Gronkowski used it. He was a force of nature, a human bulldozer on the field. As a junior in 2005, he played both sides of the ball, a relentless defender with 73 tackles and six sacks, and a game-breaking tight end who racked up 648 yards and seven touchdowns on 36 catches. He was named to the All-Western New York first team.
The hay was in the barn.
The recruiting circus that followed was something Mammoliti will never forget.
“We were inundated with everyone from across the country,” he recalled.
Stanford, Notre Dame, Ohio State – they all came.
“Every time all these guys came in, their jaws would drop at how big and talented he was.”
Beneath the imposing physique of a 6-foot-5, 235-pound junior was a quiet competitor. He was never a “me” guy. He simply loved to play. He loved the game so much that, as Mammoliti noted, he took as much joy in punishing opponents with a block as he did in catching a touchdown pass.
Buccaneers tight end Rob Gronkowski celebrates after a touchdown during Super Bowl LV.
Ben Liebenberg, Associated Press
Gronkowski’s love for football and his inherent toughness carried him beyond Williamsville North. He spent his final high school year at Woodland Hills High School in suburban Pittsburgh, and his journey wasn’t without bumps – a back injury sidelined him late in his college career at Arizona – but his fire never dimmed.
Coming off a third-team All-America and first-team All-Pac-10 sophomore season, his junior year looked promising until he missed all of it because of back surgery. It hurt his draft stock, but Mammoliti knew Gronkowski’s future was still bright.
“I remember being on vacation in Florida and the draft was on,” Mammoliti said. “I left the beach to watch the draft and sat there waiting. When he got picked, I yelled from the balcony and everyone looked at me, and I told them what happened.”
It was a moment of pure joy, a coach watching his former player get drafted in the second round into the NFL: “It’s a pretty special thing,” Mammoliti said.
He went on to the New England Patriots, a demanding and structured team that seemed to be the opposite of Gronkowski’s persona. It was the epitome of opposite attraction and the perfect situation, as Mammoliti said.
Rob Gronkowski, left, was a menace to the Buffalo Bills for nine seasons before he retired in 2019 because of injuries.
He returned to play in Tampa Bay and won his fourth Super Bowl. Buffalo News file photo
With an iconic coach, Bill Belichick, and the greatest quarterback in history, Tom Brady, it provided a container for his talent. What the public saw on television – the playful, celebratory Gronkowski – was only one side of the coin. His coaches and family knew he was someone who “always wanted to work a little more,” Mammoliti said.
Gronkowski went on to have an 11-year NFL career, winning four Super Bowls, making four All-Pro teams and being selected to the NFL’s 100th Anniversary Team. He will be eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2027, and he was inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame last fall.
Rob Gronkowski before the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame induction dinner on Nov. 12, 2024.
Joed Viera, Buffalo News
No matter how far he went, how many Super Bowls he won, or how famous he became, a part of him never left home.
“It was always a dream to be on the Buffalo Bills, that’s for sure,” Gronkowski said. And even when he wasn’t a fan anymore, he couldn’t ever fully shake it. “You can’t take out Buffalo ... it all comes right back,” he added.
Rob Gronkowski, who played at Williamsville North High School, has been tabbed the most successful player in
Western New York high school football in the first quarter century of the 2000s. Buffalo News file photo
Stories remain in Western New York about how how he rarely turns down kids for autographs, still comes back often to visit family and remembers that the most essential part of the journey is the foundation – which, of course, was built right here.
“He’s never forgotten where he’s come from,” Mammoliti said. “He’s got to be in the mix as one of the best to ever come out of Western New York and play professional sports, especially football. There’s been other guys but I don’t think anyone has received the notoriety and his level of success. He also has a lot of post-football success.”