A lengthy and storied career in athletics more than likely came to an end last week in North Bergen – without much fanfare, without ceremony, without pomp and circumstance.
That’s just Randy Chave’s style.
Although he spent nearly 40 years as a teacher, coach and athletic director at North Bergen High School, Randy Chave didn’t want much attention as he left the school probably for the last time a few months ago.
"Because that’s just not me," Chave said. "I’m my own person. I deal in reality. It’s really not that important to have all that stuff. I don’t need a pat on the back. I know the people who truly care about me."
So there was no retirement ceremony honoring Chave’s incredible dedication to the kids of North Bergen. There was no dinner to give Chave his proper due, for touching the lives of so many kids over a 40-year career.
Mainly because Chave has yet to officially retire. He has not provided his paperwork stating his intentions to step down. But the Board of Education has already moved to hire a replacement as athletic director, naming wrestling coach Jerry Maietta as the new AD. So go figure that.
But there’s a reason why Chave has been preoccupied in recent weeks. A routine examination a few months ago revealed that Chave had lung cancer, even though he never smoked a day in his life.
He’s withstood seven weeks of chemotherapy and physical therapy to prepare for surgery later this month to remove the tumor.
However, don’t feel sorry for the affable Chave. Again, he wouldn’t want it that way.
"I feel great," Chave said. "I feel like I could play a basketball game right now. I feel terrific."
Still, the news that Chave did indeed have cancer certainly hit home.
"For someone like me, it was very tough," Chave said. "I mean, I was never sick a day in my life. It was mindboggling to me. But I’ve learned to deal with it. My mom and dad both died of cancer, so there was always a chance. But I feel good about myself. I thought I would be in rough shape, but, knock on wood, I feel great."
Chave was still not sure whether he was going to retire, but since the Board of Education has already moved to replace him, he’s pretty certain that he’s done. If he goes back, he would simply be a physical education teacher and not an administrator, so it would basically be a step in the opposite direction.
"I’ve always tried to do what’s right," Chave said. "If I choose to go, then I can go and feel good about myself. I really didn’t know what I wanted to do. I was toying with the idea to retire. It’s sinful that it came down to me getting sick, but it really made the decision easier for me. If I choose to, I can get on with the rest of my life."
Still, there was a twinge of sadness in Chave’s voice.
"Any time you spend 40 years some place and you leave, there’s always a sense of sadness," Chave said. "I’ve spent 40 years there. I’ve made a ton of friends."
After Chave graduated from Seton Hall, where he was a basketball standout, in 1964, the time came to find a job. Opportunities in Chave’s native Union City, where he was a basketball standout at Emerson High School, were few.
"Although I hurt my ankle in school, I was still playing for the New York Athletic Club in 1964," Chave said. "I decided that I had to do something with my life. I just couldn’t play ball anymore."
Chave went for an interview at North Bergen High School with the then-principal, the late Joe Coviello, for a possible physical education teacher position in North Bergen.
"I never met Joe Coviello before that day," Chave said. "He interviewed me for five minutes and told me I was hired. I guess he knew of me from my Emerson days and he was at Memorial (as football coach, then principal). I didn’t have a job, so I was very fortunate."
Soon after getting hired as a gym teacher at North Bergen High School, Chave was introduced to someone who would become one of his closest friends, the basketball coach at the time, Matty Sabello.
"Matty asked me to be his assistant coach," Chave said. "And it just went from there."
For 16 straight years, Chave shared the sidelines with Sabello, coaching some of the greatest teams in the history of North Bergen basketball, including the greatest team in Bruin history, the 1977 team that captured the NJSIAA Group IV state championship.
"Every day was a learning experience with Matty," Chave said. "I had to learn to do so many other things, like dealing with people. Matty was so good with that. That 1977 team was a once-in-a-lifetime thing and I remember it like it was yesterday. It was absolutely incredible."
There were some memorable moments, like the Group IV state semifinals, when Carl DeVito’s buzzer-beater seemed to dance on the rim for about a half hour before falling in to beat Bloomfield and All-American Kelly Tripucka by a point – the same Kelly Tripucka who went on to star in the NBA with the Detroit Pistons.
"I knew DeVito was going to shoot the ball," Chave said. "It stayed up on the rim for a while, then fell in."
A few days later, the Bruins traveled to Atlantic City to face Camden in the state finals.
"They controlled the game early on, but I knew that we were going to beat them. It was a great time. We’ll never get that again here. Never."
Players like the late Matt Piccinich, Glenn Havlicek, Steve Grieco, Lou Cruz and the immortal Danny Callandrillo made that Bruin team etched in the minds of North Bergen hoop fans forever.
A year later, when Callandrillo was a senior, he enjoyed perhaps the greatest single season any Hudson County player ever had, scoring more than 35 points per game, including one game where he tossed in 64 points.
"Danny was an incredible talent," Chave said. "Watching him play on a regular basis was a treat and a half."
In 1980, Sabello pulled Chave aside and told him that he was stepping down.
"He didn’t want any fanfare," Chave said of Sabello. "I knew he was toying with the idea of leaving. When he told me, I absolutely knew I was ready to become the head coach."
Chave became the head coach of the Bruins from 1981 through 1994. During that tenure, he had to endure the passing of his friend and mentor Sabello.
"We always got along, like best friends, up until his dying day," Chave said. "We were inseparable. When Matty died, I really felt like I lost a part of me as well. We were that close."
Chave’s teams never reached the heights that North Bergen did under Sabello, but the Bruins always played hard and were always competitive.
"Those kids gave me everything," Chave said. "We might not have won anything, but we had some great kids. I couldn’t ask for anything more."
In 1994, Chave became the athletic director when Mike Rich left. Chave remained in the position until he fell ill earlier this year.
If his career as a coach and athletic director is over in North Bergen, then he’s appreciative of the fantastic four decades.
"I have no regrets whatsoever," Chave said. "I’m going to enjoy myself, enjoy the time I missed with my family. When you’re a coach and an AD, you spend so much time away from your family. I plan to make up for it now."
Chave’s wife, Dolores, recently retired as a teacher in East Orange. Their lone child, daughter Bryn, who was an All-American lacrosse player at Boston College, currently resides in San Francisco.
"I will definitely miss the people I’ve worked with all these years, my friends like Vinnie Ascolese, Artie Certisimo, Ira Wolfe and Bobby Masella," Chave said. "They’ll be a ton of people I’ll miss. They’ve all been a part of my life for so long. But I’ll take a ride into North Bergen from time to time. I’ll be around, like a bad penny."
Randy Chave is far from a bad penny. In fact, he’s a brand new shiny penny, one that you want to save or put in a place of prominence in your favorite pair of loafers. While he deserved to go out on his own terms and definitely deserved some showing of appreciation and thanks, Randy Chave can move on to the next chapter of his life, knowing he was a true treasure to the children of North Bergen.
And he can concentrate on the most important part of his life, which is the rest of his life. Good health and God speed to one of the true legends of Hudson County sports. He will be sorely missed.