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Earlier this month, Robie helped the father of two of his former wrestlers by donating a kidney.

The six-time ACC wrestling coach of the year learned in January that he was a blood match for an ailing Norm Latona, whose son Sam was in the final season of a stellar Virginia Tech wrestling career. Sam's brother Dom Latona had previously wrestled for the Hokies.

"This decision was made a lot based on my faith and my friendship with Norm," Robie, 51, said Tuesday from his Blacksburg home on a Virginia Tech video conference.

"I had an opportunity to impact somebody's life significantly and … improve their quality of life and hopefully extend significantly to his life. That was something that I felt deeply called to do.

"It wasn't an easy procedure to go through and it will temporarily affect the quality of my life a little. … (But) I wanted to be able to positively impact people that I care about."

So on May 7 at UAB Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama, one of Robie's kidneys was removed and transplanted into Norm Latona.

"Tony gave me a kidney to save my life," Norm Latona, 59, said Tuesday on the video conference from his home in Alabaster, Alabama. "But he didn't just save my life. He gave me a part of his life."

What were the odds that Robie would have been a match for the father of one of his star wrestlers?

And what if Sam and Dom had never chosen to wrestle for Virginia Tech? Robie would not have been a part of their lives.

"It's beyond coincidence," Norm Latona said. "There's definitely a God element to all this. … To point at one person and say, 'You're a match,’ that's one in a million, I'm sure."

"Everything happens for a reason," Sam Latona said on the video conference from his family's home. "This is kind of just a testament to that — Dom coming to Virginia Tech … and then me coming up there."

'Something special'

Robie steers one of the Tech athletic department's most successful programs. Tech promoted him from assistant coach to interim head coach in February 2017; the interim tag was removed a month later.

Dom Latona was on the team from 2016-20. He recently graduated from medical school.

Sam Latona was the first recruit to verbally commit to Tech after Robie became head coach. Sam joined the Hokies in 2019. He became an ACC freshman of the year, an ACC champ and a two-time All-American.

This was his sixth and final season wrestling for the Hokies, including a redshirt year and the extra year of eligibility that the NCAA gave all 2020-21 winter-sports athletes because of the coronavirus pandemic. His wrestling career concluded in March when he competed in the NCAA championships for the fifth time.

Norm Latona, who runs a pond management company, eventually went from being a team parent to being one of Robie's friends.

"Norm's become a good friend over the last several years, so that played a huge role in this," Robie said. "I can't sit there and say I would've done this for just anybody."

After not feeling well, Norm Latona had blood work done in 2022 and learned that both his kidneys were "shot" and that a transplant was his best long-term hope. He was diagnosed with a genetic kidney disease. He was in end-stage renal failure and would need to go on dialysis.

Sam Latona, who was away at Tech, got a phone call from his parents with the bad news.

"There were … probably a lot more lows than highs, but we kind of banded together as a family," Sam Latona said. "My mom, you didn't realize until all this happened how much of the rock that she really was.

"I (also) had my support back up at school. … Virginia Tech wrestling, it's like my second family."

Norm Latona choked up when talking about the support he has received from the Tech wrestling coaches, fans, wrestlers and the wrestlers' families during his ordeal.

"That meant a lot because it's kind of a dark, lonely place to be," Norm Latona said. "There's something special about Virginia Tech wrestling."

'In awe’

Norm Latona went on lists to get a kidney about a year ago.

Robie got his blood tested last fall to see if he could donate his kidney to Latona. He was tested twice in the New River Valley and two more times in É«¶à¶à.

"I just had a feeling … that I was going to be a match, right from the start, and this wasÌý… part of God's plan," Robie said.

"Once I made that my decision that I was going to get tested, my wife's a nurse, her brother was born with one kidney, so it wasn't like I didn't do my homework on this and try to understand how (donating) was going to impact my own life. … We have a friend who was a living kidney donor who did it last summer. Spoke with her, spoke with one other person that had done the same thing."

Robie said his wife, Jennifer, has been "incredible through this whole process."

After going through additional tests at UAB Hospital, Robie learned in January that he was a blood match.

"That's when I kind of decided to move forward and go ahead and schedule surgery," Robie said.

Robie phoned Norm Latona to tell him he was a match.

"I said, 'Have you talked to Jen? Have you thought through it?’" Norm Latona said. "He literally said, 'I decided that I was doing this a long time ago.’"

The Tech wrestling season was in progress in January. Latona, who did not want to miss any of Sam's final season, and Robie were able to wait until this month for their operations.

"I was stable and fine and healthy enough to wait," Norm Latona said.

In March, Robie steered the Hokies to the ACC tournament crown and a share of the ACC regular-season title. Virginia Tech finished 11th at the NCAA championships that month. Robie was named the ACC coach of the year for the fourth straight year.

Robie wanted to hold off on the operations until after May 2, when the wrestling transfer portal closed. So the surgeries took place May 7.

"The surgeon … at UAB and the whole medical staff at UABÌý… was excellent throughout this process," Robie said. "You get to know those people pretty well when you go through something like this."

Norm Latona wrote Robie's wife a letter on the day of the surgeries.

"I said, "You know, I've spent so many hours and weeks and months trying to understand what would lead someone to do something like this,’" Norm Latona said. "I can't get my mind around it. So I just said, 'I'll just resign myself to just being in awe of it for the rest of my life.’"

Virginia Tech revealed May 7 on Twitter that Robie would be donating a kidney to Norm Latona that day.

"I literally felt better instantly … when I woke up," Norm Latona said. 'I feel fantastic.Ìý… You get to feeling crummy for a long time.Ìý… I feel like I'm 20 years younger (now)."

Latona was released from the hospital five days after the operation.

"If I continue to progress well and stay healthy, I can help promote the living donor program," he said.

Robie, who was in a lot of pain for the first 24 hours after the surgery, was discharged from the hospital three days after the operation.

"This was just part of the plan for me. Happy to do it," Robie said.

What would have happened to Latona if Robie had not been a match?

"There are people that stay on dialysis for I think … 20 years or more, and then there are people that don't survive on it for very long. So you just don't know," Norm Latona said.

Robie said he has returned to work.

"I've got a long ways to go in terms of being able to get back to … where I can work out and do that kind of stuff, but in terms of getting out and moving around and going to work, I'm fine," he said.

Sam Latona received his bachelor's degree in business management from Tech last year and wrestled this year as a graduate student. He plans to get his master's degree in leadership studies later this year.

Sam Latona will remain at Tech as Robie's recruiting coordinator.

"To have a mentor like him in my life … is super special," Sam Latona said.

Robie will always remain connected to the Latona family.

"I haven't even come close to being able to express my gratitude to Coach Robie and his family and probably never will," Sam Latona said.