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Vic Maccarelli broke his wrist in a baseball game in the summer of 1959, and when his parents returned from the hospital, a visitor was waiting on the front porch.
It was Pete Antimarino.
Mr. Antimarino, then entering his second season as the football coach at Gateway High School, was at Mr. Maccarelli's baseball game. Now, he wanted to make sure Mr. Maccarelli, a member of the Gateway football team, was going to be OK.
"That's just the kind of guy he was," Mr. Maccarelli said. "You were more than a player."
Mr. Antimarino, who died Saturday at 91, impacted the lives hundreds of players during his legendary coaching career, 32 of which were at Gateway. Despite his litany of accolades - a career record of 255-93-13, five WPIAL championships and Gateway's stadium dedicated in his honor - those who knew him well said football wasn't necessarily the most important thing in his life.
Before all, he was a man of faith and family.
"He was a great witness of the faith, of how Christians are supposed to be," said the Rev. Joseph Luisi, the pastor of St. Michael Church in Pitcairn. "He lived it. He wasn't just talk."
Walter A. Antimarino, who went by the nickname "Pete," was born in Pitcairn in 1926. After graduating from Pitcairn High School in 1943, he served two years in the U.S. Air Force during World War II.
He began his teaching and coaching career in 1952 at Pitcairn High School, where he coached junior varsity basketball and baseball. He took as head football coach in 1954 and became the newly created Gateway High School’s first football coach in 1958.
Mr. Antimarino's love for coaching came out of his to desire to see people reach their full potential, said his son, Pete Antimarino.
Mr. Antimarino filled that role for Tony Petrocelli, who played three seasons from 1971 to 1973 under Mr. Antimarino. Mr. Petrocelli said he joined the Gateway team following his freshman year because Mr. Antimarino believed in him, despite his small stature of 5-foot-4, 135 pounds.
"You're only as big as your heart," Mr. Petrocelli recalled Mr. Antimarino telling him.
Upon his retirement in 1989, Mr. Antimarino attended Mass at St. Michael nearly every morning. He served at the parish as a lector, a Eucharistic minister and, occasionally, as a server at funerals.
No matter the setting, Mr. Antimarino's jovial nature seldom wavered. It's also where his passion for playing the accordion stemmed from, his son said.
"He just loved life," he said.
Mr. Antimarino is survived by his wife of 60 years, Kathryn; sisters Mary of St. Petersburg, Fla., and Boots of Level Green; son Pete of Franklin Park; daughters Linda of Las Vegas, N.M., Mary Kay of Mandeville, La., and Vicki of Pitcairn; and six grandchildren.
Visitation will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday and from 10 until noon, 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at St. Michael Church, 740 Wall Ave., Pitcairn. A funeral mass will be held at the church at 10 a.m. Friday. |