“Nobody coaches as long as he did,” Michael Giambelluca said. “He never got a cent. He did it because he loved the game.”

Rick Freeman, a coach who competed against Mr. Giambelluca for years, said, “Chuck’s teams played hard no matter what the score was, and that’s the ultimate testament to a coach.”

Charles Michael Giambelluca was born in Trenton on Dec. 5, 1942. His father, Angelo, whose parents had emigrated from Sicily, was a train conductor. His mother, Theresa (Puca) Giambelluca, worked in a cigar factory.

Chuck graduated from Steinert High School in 1961 and served in the Army Reserve, stationed at Fort Dix, N.J. He married Geraldine Campanile in 1966.

In addition his son, who is an elementary school principal, he is survived by his wife; a sister, Ginger Schnorbus; and three grandchildren.

As a boy, Mr. Giambelluca played baseball at a park in an Italian-American enclave of Trenton with descendants of other Sicilian immigrants. His father idolized Joe DiMaggio, who hailed from a family of Sicilian fishermen. Everyone always thought it was strange that Chuck became a Red Sox fan who worshiped Ted Williams.

Mr. Giambelluca met his hero at a coaching clinic in South Jersey in the 1980s. As he told it, he and Williams hit it off and ended up in Williams’s hotel room to discuss the finer points of the game over a bottle of Jack Daniel’s. Williams lived in Florida, so Mr. Giambelluca suggested that they make a bet on a coming Miami Dolphins-Oakland Raiders game. Mr. Giambelluca had a hunch that the Raiders would lose — so he bet on them.

Source: New York Times

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