Thousands Honor John Altobelli At Orange Coast JC Opener
Image credit: (Photo by Kyle Glaser)
COSTA MESA, Calif.— They came by the hundreds, packing into a stadium usually accustomed to holding dozens.
They filled the bleachers an hour before first pitch and the parking lot well before that. They stood five or six deep from foul line to foul line, filling the concourses to the brim. They hugged. They cried. They reminisced.
All told, an estimated 2,000 people made the journey to Pirate Park at Orange Coast College on Tuesday. They largely all came for the same reason.
They came because their lives, in some way, were touched by John Altobelli.
Altobelli, the coach at Orange Coast (Calif.) JC for 27 years, died Sunday in the helicopter crash that killed NBA legend Kobe Bryant. Altobelli’s wife, Keri, and 13-year-old daughter, Alyssa, were also killed in the crash north of Los Angeles that altogether took the lives of nine people.
Orange Coast’s players decided to play their season opener Tuesday as scheduled, just over 48 hours after the crash.
When they took the field for warmups, they were greeted by an endless stream of fans, many wearing shirts donning Altobelli’s number 14. The game, in effect, was a pilgrimage for all those affected by the man lovingly known as “Coach Alto.”
“You see it here today, how many lives he has impacted (and) the influence that he had on molding young men into productive men in today’s society,” said Bobby Calderon, who played for Altobelli at OCC in 1997-98 before going into coaching himself. “This was not unexpected. We knew it was going to be a large crowd here.”
Altobelli led OCC to 705 wins, eight state semifinals and four California junior college state championships as the Pirates’ coach. He also coached in the Cape Cod League and for USA Baseball’s Collegiate National team, grooming a long list of future major leaguers.
But those numbers aren’t what drove people to come Tuesday, among them Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole and former pitcher Dan Haren. What drove them was Altobelli’s influence on hundreds of young men across three decades. For so many he was not only a coach, but a father figure who provided them a second home and family.
“The number one thing I took away from coach Alto was he went out of his way to make sure everyone was OK,” redshirt sophomore righthander Brenden Argomaniz said. “I know people have been saying he treats all his kids like his sons and it’s true. I’ve never seen anyone go out of his way (like him) because he cared about us all so much.
“Especially as you go to higher levels, the coaches don’t have to do that stuff, the things that he did to make us feel like we’re at home.”
At the entry archway to the stadium, a banner proclaiming it “The House That Alto Built” welcomed visitors. At the base of the press box, a memorial of bouquets, candles, hats, baseballs and even a bottle of Captain Morgan piled up under a hanging Altobelli jersey and a portrait of him and his family after winning the 2014 state championship. OCC’s players took the field for warmups wearing Altobelli’s number 14, with #foreverapirate splashed across the front and the names John, Keri and Alyssa on the right sleeve.
Altobelli’s surviving children, J.J., a Red Sox amateur scout who covers Southern California, and Lexi, a student at nearby Newport Harbor High School, attended and remained in a private section down the first base line, where they were visited and consoled by players, coaches, alumni and friends. Altobelli’s brother, Tony, is OCC’s sports information director and served as the emcee of a pregame ceremony honoring the coach before working as the game’s public address announcer.
“It was a hard day,” Tony Altobelli said. “I think the whole team battled through it. I think seeing the community out here really galvanized us and gave us the energy we needed to have.
“I know there’s a lot of tired guys over there not getting a lot of sleep. I’m one of them. But I was proud. I’m proud to be a part of this program. I’m proud of my brother, everything he accomplished.”
The game itself ended without a conclusion. Southwestern (Calif.) JC led Orange Coast 7-6 in the top of the ninth inning when the game was suspended due to darkness. It will be resumed Feb. 18 at Southwestern.
The Pirates committed three errors, two wild pitches, two passed balls and a balk in falling behind 7-1 through the top of the sixth. After coach Nate Johnson gathered the team in the dugout, they cleaned up their defense and rallied for four runs in the sixth and another run in the seventh to pull within one.
“I said that we were trying too hard for Alto early on,” said Johnson, who was elevated from associate head coach to interim coach. “I just said ‘Take a breath, let’s calm down and let’s start playing the baseball we know we can play. Alto knows you’re trying.’
“There was no quit in this team. Most teams won’t come back from down six like we did today and make it a game with what we’ve had to deal with these last few days. Honestly, any result would have been a win. Just showing up today was a win.”
It was particularly personal for Johnson. Hired by Altobelli seven years ago and considered the program’s head coach in waiting, he kept Altobelli’s chair open in the dugout and tried to manage the game as he thought Altobelli would.
“You’re sitting there and making these decisions that the man that you looked up to and mentored you was making for the last seven years,” Johnson said, pausing to collect himself. “Today this team ran themselves. I was playing on my heart and I put the guys out there that I think Alto wanted to see and that I felt like would play with emotion for Alto … I wanted those nine guys out there that I thought Alto wanted to be out there to play all nine innings.”
After the game was called, the Pirates went out down the first base line. One by one, they lined up to each give Lexi and J.J. a hug.
For so many, Altobelli gave them a second family and a second home. Now, they and the rest of the Orange Coast baseball community plan to honor Altobelli’s memory by doing the same for his family.
“When you look into their eyes and you see a piece of Alto there in the flesh, it hits you a little bit,” Argomaniz said. “They’re family. For the whole OCC baseball program, they’re family. We’re going to do everything that we can to support them.”
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