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Family moments sometimes happen at the strangest times, and in the strangest of places.

Tom Rillo always knew his father was fit. But it was seeing Dad dart through an airport as the family raced to catch a plane out of Phoenix last year when it struck him.

The Rillos had to connect with that return flight home from their Spring Break trip to Cabo San Lucas. The flight out of paradise was delayed and they didn’t want to miss their connection.

So all the Rillos were rushing—Tom, his wife, his teenage son and his parents.

“Young Tom was quite startled,” recalls his mother, Joan Rillo, at the sight of his parents. “We were just tearing through there to make that plane.”

The five did board that plane back toward Bloomington.

After the hectic run, Tom walked away still stunned by the family’s victory; his dad, Thomas Rillo, snagged the MVP.

With Cabo in the distance and home a plane ride away, Joan remembers Tom telling his father: “I never thought an 80-year-old could go that fast through an airport.”

Like father like son

This father and son share more than the same name. It’s as if their pledge to an active lifestyle were as much in their genetic make-up as eye color or height.

It’s a bit of nature, a bit of nurture.

The Rillo family tree of fitness has strong roots, but it’s been watered and tended over the years.

Both Rillo men see each other at the Monroe County YMCA, talk about recent workouts (or sprains) and provide motivation for each other.

“They have a good rapport,” Joan says of her eldest son and her husband.

The elder Rillo, 17 years retired, prefers machines at the YMCA during the day when the crowd is thinner. The younger Rillo, a branch manager with Raymond James Financial Services at Monroe Bank, plays racquetball after work at the Y.

On a recent Monday night at the popular family fitness center, after father Tom’s machine workout and son Tom’s racquetball game, the two talked about their healthy lifestyles and each other.

The elder Rillo, comments how his son, his namesake, is built like him. He inherited “my height, my body, movement,” he says. “Tom physically resembles me.”

Tom looks at his father, who is sitting with his strong legs extended on the carpeted area just off the track.

He says with a smile that his dad is probably more fit than him, though 32 years older. To this, Rillo laughs and lovingly nudges his son in the leg.

Inspiration to stay healthy is right there in front of them.

“I don’t want my 81-year dad to be in better shape than me,” Rillo says.

“It’s an attitude, 81,” his dad replies with a chuckle.

Both watch their diets, eating little bread, and make time for some serious sweat sessions.

It was a physical around the age of 40 that kicked younger Rillo back on track. Everything was bad, Tom says. He made changes to his lifestyle, eliminating fast food and cutting portion sizes. He lost 20 pounds.

And at the next check-up, he says, he checked out fine. It’s a combination of exercise and diet, which Tom says can still be tough.

When asked his biggest food temptation, he said it’s anything sugar-based or fat-laden.

Familiar faces at the YMCA

Machines in all sizes and shapes can be found inside the Monroe County YMCA.

There’s equipment to tighten thighs and tone arms, strengthen abs and stretch just about every one of your many muscles.

And that’s just in one of the workout rooms.

The elder Rillo is a common fixture here.

After a work-out, Rillo is explaining the benefits of Cybex contraptions. He comments on how safe they are to use at every age, because everything is contained within a frame.

He quickly hops on one to demonstrate a leg push.

But in this room full of expensive—and impressive —machines, there’s one model that stands out.

And that’s Rillo himself.

He strikes a composing figure even in non-descript, darkly colored workout clothes. He wears black, the-better-to-grip-with gloves on both hands.

His well-built frame, now of 81 years, moves and bends with ease.

Indeed, the body is the ultimate machine if it stays tuned and tested.

In the next room over from where Rillo holds Cybex-court, his son can be found sweating and swinging away on a racquetball court.

The younger Rillo, 49, has been playing racquetball for years, a passion that grew out of his college days of handball.

Both father and son also swam for years. Thomas Rillo is retired from Indiana University where he taught outdoor recreation. Lunch breaks consisted of a long swim or a run at the office: the Health, Physical Education and Recreation building. Rillo participated in legendary swim coach Doc Counsilman’s Masters Swim and officiated local swim meets.

“It’s been a life of exercise,” notes Joan, family matriach.

Perhaps the only sign of the senior Rillo’s age is a hearing-aid, though it’s often not seen—he leaves it at home when working out at the Y.

In addition to Rillo officiating swim meets for local high schools and Indiana University, he was a starter for IU meets back when a real pistol was used. Those pops eventually popped his hearing.

“Exercise has helped me tremendously,” says patriach Rillo.

He suffered a crushed back in a plane crash when he was in the Air Force. The plane flipped, compressing Rillo’s vertbrae, as he puts it, “like a pancake.”

The aftermath of the crash is what thrust Rillo into a lifetime lifestyle of health and fitness.

Rillo had been an active teen growing up in an Italian-American family in New Jersey. And if he wanted to walk and maintain a healthy lifestyle after the crash, he couldn’t change course. In fact, he decided to kick it in high gear just like that day back in the international airport with his family.

Even after retiring from IU, Rillo worked part-time at the YMCA. His office? The Cybex machine room where he trained people, mostly seniors, on how to use the equipment.

He’s still training and encouraging people at the Y, though no longer on payroll. He’s quick to ask people how they are, and offer a handshake or well-wishes. Often both.

So what’s the secret, Rillos?

For the younger Rillo, it’s racquetball and cycling.

For his father, cardio and strength-training on machines.

For his mother, walking or jogging.

Young Tom Rillo said it’s about finding something you enjoy and to “get to the point where you miss it” if you haven’t done it for a while.

The benefits will be plentiful—and might even keep you from missing a flight home from vacation.