Editor’s Note: Welcome to Inside Out, our weekly roundup of stories about Staten Islanders making waves, being seen, supporting our community and just making our borough a special place to live. Have a story for Inside Out? Email Carol Ann Benanti at benanti@siadvance.com.
At Kettle Black clockwise are, Charlie Marsala, Joe Stasi, Angelo Costagliolia, Bob Stasi, Don Storniolo, Joe Pisicolo, Pat Walsh and Bill Welsh. (Courtesy/Joe Pisicolo) Staten Island AdvanceStaten Island Advance
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — As a way to celebrate the illustrious life of Staten Island sports great Bill Welsh, former students and friends hosted a dinner in his honor at Kettle Black in West Brighton.
Among them were Charlie Marsala (Staten Island Hall of Fame/Track), Wagner College cross country and track & field head coach Joe Stasi, Joe Pisicolo, Angelo Costagliolia, Bob Stasi, Pat Walsh and Dom Storniolo, who were all runners in the New Dorp High School Class of 1982.
“Mr. Welsh had a blast and even wanted ‘to go out’ after dinner,” Pisicolo gushed. “And it was our pleasure to take him out. He had an impact on all of us. And he’s an Island legend and coached Bill Jankunis, who went to the Olympics. He coached him in New Dorp Dorp High School before we got there. And Charlie Marsala was an Island legend in the 1980s and he broke the four-minute mile, which is an Island record and still the Island record in the mile.”
Welsh had a ball reminiscing about old workouts he planned for team members in Great Kills Park — on a tough cinder track.
“We confessed and told him we complained about how hard the workouts were at the time and he laughed and said, ‘And here we are 40 years later laughing about it.’ It was great just to sit down and talk about the old high school days,” he added.
In speaking of the living legend, Pisicolo explained Welsh still has a great way of telling stories.
From the left, Bill Welsh who turned 92 and Charlie Marsala at Kettle Black in West Brighton. (Courtesy/Joe Pisicolo) Staten Island AdvanceStaten Island Advance
“His love of the sport and life are second to none. We joked with him and asked him where did all the coaches go at night when we went on overnight trips and he jokingly replied, ‘We (the coaches) couldn’t get hall passes and get out.’”
A FEW FACTS ABOUT WELSH
Four years ago, longtime runner Jeff Benjamin, who’s the Staten Island Running Association chairman, noted: “Coach Welsh was also a national-class runner during the 1950s and finished among the top finishers twice in the Boston Marathon. And he competed in one to two races every weekend from distances of 5k up to the half-marathon! And he has 10 gold medals to prove it.”
He added: “Coach Welsh began his coaching career at [the former] Augustinian Academy and then New Dorp High School, where he was coach for over 25 years. He also was one of the founders of the Staten Island High School Track and Field Association.”
In 2001 and 2014, the Island Running Community and the Brighton Kiwanis honored Welsh with a 5K Run and Dinner Roast in his name.
When he was only 14, Welsh’s high school teammates talked him into becoming head coach after theirs quit and he’s been a track coach for 70 years — and has made Staten Island a better place.
Former students and friends gather at Kettle Black with Bill Welsh, sitting center. (Courtesy/Joe Pisicolo) Staten Island AdvanceStaten Island Advance
Welsh has been an inspiration to the thousands of individuals whose lives he touched throughout his years of dedication to track and field — and as an all-around athlete, coach and humble humanitarian.
He ran at St. Francis College and continued after college.
For a number of years, he was one of the nation’s top runners — competing against greats of the 1950s and ‘60s like Browning Ross, Gordon McKenzie, Horace Ashenfelter, Ted Corbitt, Johnny Kelley and others.
His fastest-ever marathon was 2:34:39 at Atlantic City in 1962.
FYI: Staten Island’s Steve Moore, Marty Walsh, Larry Cimato, Bob Corbett, Jack Singler, Jack Fonss and Fabrizio Esposito were all students of Welsh. Another was Bob Andrews, an assistant principal at Staten Island Technical High School. Andrews went on to a super career at UPenn and a top-rated masters runner for Shore AC.
LIFEGUARD REUNION
Were you a lifeguard at any of Staten Island’s beaches or pools in the 1960s or the years that followed?
Lifeguards gather on South Beach during their reunion in 2008. (Courtesy/Ray Kennedy) Staten Island AdvanceStaten Island Advance
If you were, or know of anyone who was, Ray Kennedy is asking that you spread the word about a reunion.
While all lifeguards are invited to attend — including recent or current guards — the reunion will focus primarily on former lifeguards from South Beach, Midland Beach and Great Kills Beach.
The reunion is set for Saturday, Aug. 21, at noon at the Lifeguard Shack.
After a meet-and-greet at the beach that day, they will head over to the West Cork Union Hall Tavern on Henderson Avenue in West Brighton for a three-hour barbecue.
Kennedy, a former lifeguard who was assigned to South Beach and Midland Beach from 1968 to 1972 and who now calls East Durham, N.Y., home, is a retired state trooper in the Kingston area, where he’s now a judge. A 1968 Monsignor Farrell High School grad, Kennedy lifeguarded while attending SUNY Brockport.
A photo of lifeguards who posed during a reunion on South Beach in 2008. (Courtesy/Ray Kennedy) Staten Island AdvanceStaten Island Advance
He still manages to keep in touch with a few fellow lifeguards, but he said there are still a great many who have drifted off. However, since Staten Islanders are fond of returning to their roots, he’s confident that many will be interested in the reunion.
Kennedy has received RSVPs from approximately 30 former guards, many of whom are bringing their spouses. He said some of them are coming from as far away as Seattle or Florida and have had varied careers: Bill Stark is an oceangoing tug captain and the senior man on the East Coast; Ron Sarge, our former chief lifeguard in South Beach, is a retired dentist who still works with veterans at a hospital in Maryland.
Other lifeguards went on to become city firefighters, police officers and teachers. And John Touhey, who’s still a Staten Island resident, was an EMT and nurse for 35 years.
“The first reunion started out as four guys getting together for lunch and ended up with 52 former guards and their wives. Needless to say, a number of those guys are no longer with us so we will be having a moment of silence at the reunion.”
Kennedy may be reached at P.O. Box 34, Sunside Road, East Durham, N.Y., 12433, at 518-622-2075 or at raykennedy732@gmail.com.
CELEBRATIONS – AUG. 8 TO AUG. 14
AUG. 8
Happy birthday Sunday to Barbara (Babe) Pisani, Kim Genau, Lisa Marie Macchia, David Beyar, Kie Jacobs, Anthony Legato III, Liza Brown, Phyllis Marino and Gianna Nicole Martinez, who turns 12.
AUG. 9
Monday is birthday time for Nicole Legato, Joe Sugzda, Clarence Genau, Hailey Schnell, Louis Mammolito, Nabillia A. Caraballo, Jesse Inigo, Joe D’Aquila and Kim Schaffer.
AUG. 10
Birthday greetings Tuesday to Lia Michele Andriulli, who turns 7, Julia Falcone, John Forlenza, Ron Ferger Jr., Tim Carr, Robert Galvin and Nicole Legato.
Happy 42nd wedding anniversary to Laura and Robert Leonardi.
AUG. 11
Birthday best Wednesday to Marjorie Hack, Breann McKeon, Rebecca Wheeler, Frank Cammaroto and Thomas Sean Pellechia.
AUG. 12
The best of birthdays Thursday to Sharon Cohen, Amanita Duga Carroll, Ceaser Mercado, Kathleen Camiolo, James Carucci, Vanessa Signorelli, Joyce Pearsall, James Alexander Greco, Dennis Coughlin, Phillip J. Karg, Roseann Carrera, Cosmo D’Aquila, Rayann Besser, Jennifer Mitchell and Anthony Frank Petruzzi.
Happy wedding anniversary to Beth and Fred Fennell and to Kelly and Ron Stafford.
AUG. 13
Happy birthday Friday to Robert Raimonto, Christian J. O’Hanlon, Rosemary Newman, Margaret Wilson and Dominick Cassissa.
AUG. 14
Saturday is birthday time for Rich Stancavage, Thomas Rutherford, Edward Guerra and Sue Smith.
Happy wedding anniversary to Donna and Rick Klein.
