The first game of a new baseball season is usually a time for optimism about what’s ahead, a care-free point in the season when anything seems possible and teams are just happy to see what unfolds after months of practice.
For members of the Orange Coast College team, the season opener will begin with a moment of silence to honor veteran head coach John Altobelli, a beloved figure on the Costa Mesa campus and his Orange County community who died in a helicopter crash along with eight others, including his wife and daughter Alyssa, and Lakers star Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna.
“John Altobelli was a stand-up guy, salt of the Earth, and the best neighbor I’ve ever had,” longtime friend Rich Dunn told City News Service. “He was a wonderful neighbor and friend. He’d be so empathetic. For whatever reason, I could always talk to John. It was easy to talk to him, he was so caring and had such a big heart.”
Altobelli has been part of the Pirates baseball program for nearly three decades, leading the team to four state titles en route to more than 700 career wins. Last year, he was the American Baseball Coaches Association as an ABCA/Diamond National Coach of the Year.
Altobelli is survived by his son, J.J. and daughter, Lexi.
John Altobelli was a stand-up guy, salt of the Earth, and the best neighbor I’ve ever had.
Longtime friend Rich Dunn
His father, Jim Altobelli, visited the baseball field to speak with coaches and players.
“It’s the shock and the loss,” he said.
Dunn said the Altobelli family is “legendary” in their Newport Beach neighborhood. They started a decades-old tradition ago of setting up luminaries in Santa Ana Heights for Christmas, he said.
Sports worlds collided when Altobelli became friends with Bryant through the basketball great’s involvement in the Mamba Sports Academy. Altobelli’s daughter, Alyssa, was a teammate of Bryant’s daughter, Gianna.
The group was apparently flying to a girls basketball tournament at the Newbury Park academy when the helicopter crashed into a hillside in nearby Calabasas.
Associate head coach Nate Johnson will take over for Altobelli this year.
The college’s baseball foundation has started a fundraiser to help the family with expenses and the team has placed a banner bearing his No. 14 on the outfield wall.
The team also will hold a moment of silence before Tuesday’s season opener against Southwestern College at OCC’s Wendell Pickens Field.
Source: NBC Los Angeles
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