The softer side of John Tortorella: Inside the fiery coach’s passion for helping animals in need

Driving down the road each day by his house in Columbus, Ohio, John Tortorella noticed that the horse next door was starting to look skinny. He stopped and learned the horse’s owner was getting old and having trouble taking care of it.

Tortorella had a farm and a pasture, so he offered to feed it. After a few months, they mutually decided it was now Tortorella’s horse.

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“So that’s how he found one of his [three] horses,” said Zack Bendler, cofounder of Bella Run Equine, a nonprofit that focuses on the responsible rescue, rehabilitation, and rehoming of at-risk horses and dogs.

Tortorella, now with the Flyers and in his 21st season as an NHL head coach, has a reputation as a fiery, tough coach with no time for nonsense. But the John Tortorella underneath the public persona has a soft heart and always goes out of his way to help someone — or something — in need. Even if it’s an hour before a game, he’ll check in about certain dogs looking for homes, said Anthony Rothman, Tortorella’s former cohost for their Columbus-based radio segment Hockey and Hounds.

Tortorella and his wife, Christine, don’t want the credit, though. They insist that they are just aiding the real heroes.

“We support the groups that are actually doing the work,” Christine said. “It’s the people that run these rescue groups that are the real story.”

But those people, like Bendler, insist that the Tortorellas are “angelic figures” in their lives. Even after Tortorella’s job moved them from Columbus, their influence has continued to be felt throughout the community by people and animals alike.

When John and Christine’s children were young, one of them asked, “Do bugs have belly buttons?”

Christine made a song out of it, and from there it turned into a whole series. As a children’s author, Christine believes strongly in the importance of education and literacy. Her family shares that passion — her daughter works as a reading specialist — and John’s career as a coach helped create the platform to support it.

At first, the Tortorella Family Foundation focused on providing free education and reading materials in both English and Spanish. The foundation worked in local school districts, but when the pandemic hit, it focused on online material.

But the Tortorellas knew they wanted to do more, so they decided to tie in their other passion — animals. Working with a Canadian humane education program for children as well as experts at the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, they put together lessons for children on how to treat animals.

In each NHL stop where the Tortorellas have lived for John’s job — Tampa Bay, New York, Vancouver, Columbus, and now Philadelphia — they’ve found ways to connect to the community. But it was in New York where their work with animals really started.

“John got very involved at that time,” Christine said. “He’s always had the heart for it, but when we ran into the shelter that was doing such a terrible job in New York, we needed every hand, and he would come down and walk dogs tirelessly.”

That proved to be a turning point for the coach and his entire family, Christine said.

“His work and his talent and devotion to what he does creates an opportunity for us for a community that we really enjoy and need and hopefully contribute to,” Christine said. “We receive a lot by being here. And we want to give back and be a part of the particular community.”

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Rothman has been working in Columbus sports media for nearly 30 years, including roughly the last 10 as a daily host for the local ESPN radio affiliate. So when the Blue Jackets hired Tortorella as their interim coach in October 2015, Rothman was familiar with the hot-blooded coach he had seen on TV.

But after more research, Rothman stumbled upon a YouTube clip of a dog walk hosted by Tortorella and the Rangers that raised money and awareness for the Humane Society of Westchester. The event intrigued Rothman, who has been a volunteer humane agent investigating neglect and cruelty cases for nearly 15 years.

“My first instinct was, ‘Oh, I wonder if this is something that the Rangers just set up and John wound up doing,’” Rothman said. “And then after listening to the clip and hearing him talk, I realized this isn’t just a guy that liked animals. He truly gets it. And he really is an advocate for animals.”

Rothman sent the Blue Jackets a note asking if Tortorella would be interested in partnering on some animal projects. Within 24 hours, a representative informed Rothman that Tortorella couldn’t wait to talk to him.

“My first memory of him is hitting the ground running,” Rothman said.

About a year-and-a-half into Tortorella’s six-year tenure in Columbus, he and Rothman launched Hockey and Hounds. Every Wednesday, the two would talk hockey for 10 minutes, then transition into discussions about local dogs that needed homes or projects benefiting the animal welfare community.

The show leveraged Tortorella’s platform, securing sponsorship money that his family’s foundation could distribute to other causes. Not only did listeners adopt dogs through the show, but some donated funds and other resources. On one occasion, Rothman and Tortorella discussed a project that Christine was spearheading to build doghouses in the area. A listener donated the building materials and helped spur volunteers into action.

“What it really did in Columbus, I think, is it made the community aware of how some people are working really hard to provide for animals in suffering situations,” Christine said.

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One of those causes that benefited from the Tortorellas’ foundation is SAVE Ohio Pets, a nonprofit that aims to reduce the homeless pet population in Central Ohio. The Tortorellas sponsored several of the organization’s monthly clinics, which provided exams, vaccinations, and vet care for community members with limited resources. They later sponsored an event that provided on-site spaying and neutering through a mobile veterinary hospital called the Rascal Unit.

“Once they are involved with an organization, whether it’s us or other ones, they really go out of their way to make sure that they are the voice for the voiceless,” SAVE Ohio Pets co-director Stacey Morris said.

The Tortorellas also got involved with Bendler’s Bella Run Equine, working to help at-risk horses and dogs. Bendler estimates that the Tortorellas have helped save thousands of animals through their contributions, from buying and saving horses from kill auctions to adopting horses themselves.

“We’re just very direct and we’re about trying to help and be an advocate for the voiceless animal,” Bendler said. “And that’s just the only glasses we see through. And I think that’s another reason like, Torts is 100%. That’s why we’re such good friends is because we see it in a similar light in that respect.”

Their work with these organizations inspired other members of the community to get involved, including Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzļikins, who donated a game-used mask and pads for a raffle. The proceeds, which amounted to more than $11,000, went to a foster-based rescue that helped pay for a dog’s surgery.

For Rothman, the Tortorellas’ dedication to animal welfare mimics the kind of coach that John is — he wants to do anything he can to help, and he doesn’t like to take no for an answer.

“I’ll never know what it’s like to play for him,” Rothman said. “But after working with him on the show, I do know what it’s like pretty much to be coached by him and inspired by him.”

When Tortorella and the Blue Jackets parted ways in 2021, Rothman was bombarded with questions about the future of Hockey and Hounds. But the show is still going strong with current Blue Jackets coach and former Tortorella assistant Brad Larsen serving as Rothman’s cohost.

Hockey and Hounds has followed Tortorella to Philadelphia, too. Every Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. on 97.5 The Fanatic, Tortorella joins in to talk about hockey and animal welfare. He sheds light on local animals in need of homes in partnership with the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society and the Pennsylvania SPCA.

“His impact has created a legacy here in a way, and that the Hockey and Hounds brand is now a legacy of his because he was such a big part of it and that has continued on,” Rothman said.

The Tortorellas are still looking to get more involved in Philadelphia, whether it’s through animal welfare, education, or existing Flyers causes, Christine said. She added that doing community work with the players is a good way for them to bond.

Although they’re immersing themselves in a new community, they haven’t cut ties with those they’ve left behind, as seen by the way their impact continues to be felt in Columbus. Before Tortorella took the Flyers’ job, he told Bendler that he was going to help fund the construction of a kennel facility at Bella Run. The day the news broke of his hiring, Bendler said Tortorella called and told him, “‘Hey, man, let’s build that kennel.’”

While Tortorella is focused on helping his underdog Flyers team find ways to win, he and Christine are also intent on a similar objective off the ice, working to find solutions for the animals they’re supporting in Columbus, Philadelphia, and beyond.

“The way that Torts puts it to me and always puts it to me is, ‘Zack, we’re going to find a way,’” Bendler said. “I think that’s just his mentality. He just doesn’t quit and he just doesn’t take excuses.”