"Coach Traz", dedicated over 50 years of his life to serving the youth as a math teacher for over 30 years and a track coach as a Head Coach for 38 years, with 36 at RJ Reynolds and adding 10 years as an Assistant Coach at Mt. Tabor a few years after retiring from teaching at RJ Reynolds.
Per the announcement of his 2009 NCHSAA Coach of the Year Honor, Trzaskoma would also teach Sunday school at his First Assembly of God Church for over 40 years and also worked with the Boy Scouts of America and a summer camp that is held for children in foster care.
This May at the Mt. Tabor end of season awards banquet Coach Trzaskoma said "I have been coaching and working with kids for a very long time. When I look in the mirror now I only see an old man. So, I have had to make a hard decision. I've decided to stop looking in the mirror".
Coach Trzaskoma was inducted into the North Carolina HS Track & Field and Cross Country Hall of Fame in 2022. Below are some of Coach Trzaskoma's accomplishments within cross country and track and field.
- Won 7 NCHSAA state titles over a large span of time (in cross country and track)
- Led teams to 5 consecutive NCHSAA cross country state titles (1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978), then back-to-back NCHSAA track and field titles in 2005 (outdoor) and 2006 (indoor)
- His longevity and varied greatness is difficult on any level for any sport
- NCHSAA Coach of the Year, 2009
- Coached in Forsyth County for nearly 40 years, with 35 years at R.J Reynolds.
- The Forsyth County Championships were renamed the Norman Trzaskoma Invitational in honor of him and his long success in Forsyth County and in North Carolina
- Inducted into Evangel University's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1985, and was the school's first four-year letter winner in cross country and track and field.
Below is from former Mt. Tabor Coach Patrick Cromwell on what Coach Trzaskoma meant to the WSFCS and North Carolina Track & Field community.
"In 2006 and my first year coaching at Mount Tabor I only knew the name and his illustrious three plus decade record at RJ Reynolds High School. RJR was pretty much the team to beat.
I learned quickly that "Coach Traz" was a fierce competitor but the first to congratulate your athlete and the opposing coach on a great performance. The most impactful thing I ever did as a coach was convincing Coach Trzaskoma to be an assistant at Mount Tabor where he has served the last 10 years. Coaching hurdles was his specialty but he could coach any of the 18 events and his way of seeing and fixing the missing link to put the whole performance together was an art. His charisma, unwavering belief in every athlete and his intense focus to grow each one as a better athlete and person is what made him so special.
It never failed that during the first week of the season you check attendance off for the 100 kids on the roster and turn around and there would be 25 of them standing with Coach Traz. He was recruiting while you were talking! That is what sports and having an influential coach is all about: instilling a belief in a young person that they can do more, achieve more and have control over the outcome. That is the gift of confidence and self belief he gave to thousands of young people. He was masterful at it. His celebration for the slowest on the team achieving a personal best was just as joyful and sincere as celebrating a state champion, of which he had plenty.
His mathematical background and next level memory was astounding. I witnessed countless times how he would see an athlete from twenty years ago and immediately recall their name, personal bests and another personal fact. I am not talking about only his stars. I mean all of them. I am blessed to say we became colleagues, neighbors, friends and that our shared passion for sport bonded us forever. I feel like our relationship was unique but in reality hundreds probably feel the same way. The only time I ever saw him flustered is when I gave him the State Championship Coach plaque in 2024 just before the photographers clicked away for a team photo. That championship was made possible by him and his athletes, and I got to keep my promise of winning again if he joined our team.
His second career as a handyman and painter positively impacted just as many people, many of whom were older and lonely. I literally would call my aging mother to check in and she would tell me she was just hanging out with Norman (his name off the track). He was painting in her house and she was lifted up through his conversation, legendary delivery of jokes, and his sincerity of caring for people more than any health professional ever could. The only other waking moments in his day were spent volunteering in the community and with his church family.
I met with his wife this morning and she said "Patrick, don't worry. He is fine. You know he is with the Lord and is smiling down at all of us". I know that to be true, but it will take some time to heal the broken hearts still here.
In my opinion there has been no one more influential to thousands of young people in Forsyth County and especially the Cross Country and Track and Field community.
We already named the Forsyth County Cross Country opening meet "The Norman Trzaskoma Invitational" in 2011 in his name but it will take on special meaning now. It is scheduled for August 29th at 9:00 am at the Ivey M. Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville. Awards and celebration of his remarkable life to follow at 10am.
You are loved by so many, Coach Traz. Thank you for sharing all of your gifts with us.
Coach Cromwell"
Coach Trzaskoma Funeral Arrangement