Long-time baseball coach hangs up cleats to hang with familyTony Colasurdo called it one of the toughest decisions he’s ever made in his life, but it was a move made for the best. Last week, he relinquished his coaching responsibilities with the Weehawken High School baseball program after 18 years.
“I missed my eldest son [Anthony]’s entire high school baseball career (at New Milford High School),” said Colasurdo, who guided the Indians to an 11-8 record in his final campaign. “If I saw three of his games over the four years, then that was a lot. My son Nicholas is a junior, and he’s a pretty good distance runner at New Milford. My youngest son, Christopher, is 13 and he’s going into the eighth grade. He’s a basketball player. But that was the overriding factor. I kept missing my family. As I get a little older, I realized how important it is for me to spend time with them.”
Colasurdo wanted to make sure that he went out with the best graduating senior class in the history of the program, namely standouts Danny Lopez, Chris Jodice and Kevin Kallert, three kids who helped the Indians win three straight Bergen County Scholastic League National Division titles.
“I always said that once this group graduated, then it would be it,” Colasurdo said. “I had them since they were freshmen and I watched them grow. But once they were gone, then it was time for me to stop and time for me to devote myself to my own kids.”
Colasurdo said that he was beginning to feel the physical strain of coaching, especially not being able to do all the things he loved to do.
“I used to play baseball in an over-40 league, but I can’t anymore,” Colasurdo said. “I like throwing batting practice and fielding grounders with the kids, but I just can’t do it. I just can’t do what I used to do.”
Colasurdo reflected on a coaching career that actually began back in 1972, when he was appointed the head baseball coach for one year during a teacher’s strike. He then was an assistant coach under the legendary Perry Del Purgantorio for many years, then served as an assistant to Anthony LaBruno before being elevated to the position of head baseball coach in 1986.
“In the beginning, it was trial and error,” Colasurdo said. “We got beat up pretty bad in those first few years. I spent a lot of time learning from guys that we played against like Babe Mongilia [of Ridgefield Park], Bob Carcich [of Emerson Borough] and Tony Falco [of Secaucus]. I watched what they did and went from there. We had some nice players, but we never had the best of teams. We were always right around .500, like 11-10 or 11-8, something like that.”
Colasurdo remembered the early years with standout players like Augie Cardenas and Argenis Chong leading the way, but the Indians were never a real threat.
However, the talent level in the township started to improve and players like Fernando Fuentes, Anthony Rendine, Grevin Rodriguez and Chris Hernandez made their way through the lower ranks to the varsity. Then, the fortunes of the Indians improved tremendously and the winning began.
“I never envisioned the success we ended up having,” said Colasurdo, who won nearly 150 games during his head coaching career, but more than half of them came over the last five years, a streak that included three straight league titles. “If someone told me that we would have won three division titles and go to the state sectional finals and all we accomplished, I would have thought the idea was crazy. All the stars finally were in alignment and we started to win. The feeder program definitely improved over the years.”
Colasurdo credited the efforts of his fine crew of assistant coaches, like Joe Sabato, Joe Crandall, Jim Panepinto, Anthony Stratton and Justin Tralango, who served under Colasurdo over the last 18 years.
“I was always lucky to have the best assistants,” Colasurdo said. “They were always with me every step of the way. I have some great memories of working with them and working with some great kids. I just enjoyed the sport. I always have, win or lose. I really had a great time. It’s just my time to go.”
Colasurdo said that he believes he’s leaving a program that will continue to contend.
“I think everything will be left in good hands, with whoever gets the job,” Colasurdo said. “I’m not leaving the program any worse than what it was. I think they will carry on and the tradition of success will continue. There’s a great group of sophomores and freshmen coming up. Coach Panepinto said it was his best group on the junior varsity. I’ll miss that, not being able to develop them, having another group of kids who want to learn. I like being with kids. They keep you young.”
Added Colasurdo, “This was a torturous decision, I’ll tell you. But it’s something I had to do. I have to devote some time for my own kids.”
And it’s a decision that will have a profound effect on the kids of Weehawken for years to come.
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