At least Charlie Trapani says he’ll always have the photograph.

The former two-time captain of the University of Vermont men’s basketball team explains that he always had a dream of pairing two particular photos side by side.

“I have this one of me taking a shot against Florida State,” Trapani explains. “My son Joe has always worn my old number 12 wherever he has played and during his freshman year we were able to get a picture of him in virtually the exact pose wearing the Vermont jersey.”

Two years later, the number remains the same, but Charlie’s days of making the nearly five-hour pilgrimage from his home in Madison, Conn. to Burlington to watch his son play on the same intimate, well-worn hardwood are over. That voyage has been replaced by a trip half the distance to the more spacious, albeit less familiar, confines of Conte Forum where he now watches Joe, a sophomore for the Eagles, start in the BC frontcourt.

More satisfying than watching his son starting for Al Skinner’s club and leading the team in rebounding through nine games, Charlie Trapani says is the simple fact that his son has finally found a hardwood home to his liking. It is a development that probably has even softened the jarring reality which came blaring through the receiver from Burlington one evening after Joe’s freshman season with the Catamounts.

“That was a heartbreaking phone call,” Charlie recalls of the night his son informed him he was not going to finish his career in green and white as he had done.

“Looking back on it, those were the best years of my life, but I had to separate myself from all the hoopla of Joe going there. On the one hand, I was heartbroken, but on the other, I had to be there for my son in my role as an advisor and be supportive for him.”

Ask Joe Trapani what was tougher – trying to slow down teammate Tyrese Rice on a breakaway in practice or making that call – and he’ll undoubtedly tell you the latter.

“It was brutal,” Joe remembers. “I call him before I make any decision, and I called him because I just wanted to talk to him about it and let him know how I really felt, but it was tough.”

Almost an Eagle two years earlier

After averaging 25 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks as a senior at Daniel Hand High School in Madison, Trapani’s detour to Burlington was nearly avoided all together as he was on the Eagles’ recruiting board for the 2006-07 season.

“Bill Cohen came to my gym in Madison to work me out,” Joe said of the former BC associate head coach who now runs the show at Northeastern. “He actually said that they had just signed a kid (current BC forward Tyler Roche) who was 6-foot-7, with my build, who could shoot it and that he was almost identical to me.

Cohen suggested that Trapani prep a year.

“That just wasn’t for me,” Joe said.  “I didn’t want to go the prep route. I wanted to jump into it right away and get going.”

Along with BC, West Virginia also worked Trapani out and Davidson and Providence expressed interest. Vermont led a slew of America East schools that were also hot on his trail as well. With his father doing his level best to stay out of the process, Trapani eventually signed on with the Catamounts.

“When I went up there to visit, my dad was obviously psyched, and he was talking it up, but I made my decision on my own,” Joe said. “I liked the coaches. You could tell that they were really intelligent and knew what they were doing and that they were winners.”

Auspicious start in Burlington

Things started out awfully well for both father and son in Burlington. Joe quickly earned a starting spot on the America East powerhouse. He even helped lead the Catamounts to a 77-63 shocker over a nationally ranked Eagles club in just his third collegiate game. Off the court, Charlie got to watch it all unfold.

One night he and some of his old teammates re-united and took Trapani and his current teammates out for dinner. There was a lot to talk about. Charlie and his old mates reminisced about the road trip in 1974, which saw them take on N.C. State with David Thompson and Tom Burleson and the next night play a UNC team that boasted Bobby Jones and Mitch Kupchak. The younger set could counter with their designs on leading the team to a second straight trip to the NCAA’s.

“I know he loved that night and it was fun,” said Joe. “I was playing pretty well, the rotation was great and I was in the groove. But then I just started feeling something in my foot.”

After playing through the pain, Trapani was ultimately diagnosed with a broken foot and spent a month and a half on the sidelines. 

“When I came back, I just wasn’t the same player,” Joe recalled.

“I was in a funk and the year ended poorly for us.”

The Catamounts finished 25-8 on the season and a glittering 15-1 in America East, but lost a chance to go back to the Big Dance when they fell to an Albany team which they had beaten two times prior in the conference title game. To compound things, Vermont fell to Kansas State by a bucket in the opening round of the NIT.

“It was just a tough way to end and it really bothered me,” he said. “I just wasn’t feeling it and Vermont just wasn’t my cup of tea. The basketball was great, but it was a different scene. I’m not too much of an outdoorsy guy, like my father is, and I wanted to be at a place where there was more going on, like Boston.”

Second recruiting trip a charm

Entering the recruiting waters a second time around, this time with a larger frame and a resume that included America East All-Rookie Team honors, Trapani found himself in much higher demand. BC was immediately back in the picture, but so too were Michigan, Vanderbilt, Providence, Maryland and Northeastern. All five schools put on the full court press in a condensed, five-week free for all. Trapani says the choice ultimately came down to the Wolverines and the Eagles, but he also looked long and hard at Northeastern which now had Cohen at the helm.

Ultimately, he decided on the Eagles with the school’s location, conference, and coach all serving as deciding factors.

“I came to BC and saw how nice it was,” said Joe who had his dad by his side on each stop in the process. “I didn’t want to be right in the city and it’s nice to have a campus feel, but also be able to go into the city whenever I wanted.  It was a perfect fit.”

After an agonizing year spent practicing with the team only to don a shirt and tie on game days, Trapani finally was able to pull on the old No. 12 last month in the Eagles’ opener against Central Connecticut.

“Before the Central Connecticut game I was a lot more nervous than I ever remember being,” said Trapani who quickly added that his father’s nerves in the stands probably exceeded his own on the floor.

“He was just so amped to watch me play, and after the game you could tell that he was still jittery and I had to try and calm him down.”

Through nine games there is no question that Trapani’s play has served as a calming influence for the Eagles. One of four sophomores, who start along with the senior standout Rice,

Trapani leads the team on the glass (7.1 rpg) and is second to Rice in both points (13.1 ppg) and minutes (29.1). With the ability to play either in the low post or drift behind the arc where he has drilled nine of 28 shots, he brings both spacing and matchup problems to the floor for the Eagles.

“He’s going to get even more opportunities to score,” Skinner noted after watching Trapani post his second straight double-double Wednesday night against Bryant. “He just has to let it come within the offense. Going from just practices to games is totally different, but I think there has been a lot of improvement in terms of his shot selection and rebounding and because of that our whole starting unit has improved.”

Charlie Trapani says that his son, who started to take control of their heated H-O-R-S-E games on the family hoop in Madison around his freshman year of high school, continues to surprise him.

“Joe has always exceeded my expectations on the basketball court,” he said. “I remember telling him not to expect to do too much at Vermont right away and I think he went out and scored over 25 points in his first three games,” the father recalls. “Same thing here. I tried to remind him that he hadn’t played in a year and sure as heck he goes out and makes the starting lineup.

“Despite all the heartache, I can’t say enough about the program and the coaches and the way they have supported him,” Charlie added. “As a father, that’s always your No.1 concern.”

Finding the perfect picture frame for two very unique side-by-side photos? That’s a close second.

Bob Albright covers Boston College athletics for WEEI.com.