On the eve of Thanksgiving in 1999, The Belleville-Nutley Gridiron Classic Reunion Dinner, at the approval of the Belleville Board of Education, officially retired Richie Luzzi's #22 football number. The night was full of nostalgia, friends of days gone by, great food, and lots of memories. But, it was Richie's night.
I had the profound privilege to be the Master of Ceremonies that evening, and what you will read below was the official declaration which I penned, formally ushering #22 into the halls of Belleville High School Football Immortality. After close to 10 years, Richie's story is again shared below. And then there is an epilogue.
Richie Luzzi, #22
It was the mid-50’s. Korea was behind us. Vietnam was an unknown. It was the heart of rock ‘n roll and doo-wop. The neighborhood kids from King Street on the Nutley line to the playgrounds of #5 school in Belleville divided each day into stickball in the morning, tackle football in the afternoon, and basketball after dinner.
It was Belleville, New Jersey’s rendition of Spanky and our gang. Their names were Frank, Joe, Stanley, Meatsie, Frankie, Pudgey, Lenny, and Drew. Once in a while a little guy from Nutley’s Holy Family School would join them. His name was Jim-Jim. The leader of this motley, rag-rag team of dreamers was Richie…as in Richard Luzzi, #22.
For years, one of their dads had been preaching to this bunch of sports-loving little fellows about Frank Cardinale and the train trips to Florida… by the Nutley High School Maroon Raiders…to play for the mythical National High School Championship. If they heard the story once, they heard it a million times! Therefore, when rumor spread of Belleville’s first efforts to create a midget football league, these impressionable future Bellboys, who had been tolerating Mr. Orsini’s Nutley tales, were now more than ready to write their own story… especially #22, Rich Luzzi.
The Belleville cops and fireman who created the league recruited a bunch of the local construction guys who also wanted to see Belleville football fortunes birthed. Frankie, Joe, Stanley, Drew, Jim-Jim, Richie and the rest of the crowd put on the pads. They had something to prove to Jim-Jim’s father and his Nutley pals. Coincidentally, however, Mr. Orsini became one of their first coaches.
It was not long before the leader of the pack was catching the attention of some of the Ex-Nutley and Belleville greats who were coaching. #22 was special…quick, strong, and quiet. He just performed…a coach’s dream. The boys all had fun, learning the game of football at a place they called “The Bog.” An anticipation was in the air for their future success at the high school level. But, they all put #22 in another class… he could not miss. On the other hand, all he wanted to do was to play football with his friends.
In the fall of 1959, Rich and his pals began to stroll the halls of Belleville High School and run circles around their opponents on the football fields. Kids from all over town were playing now, but the crowd from King Street to #5 was dominating… after all, not everybody had heard the Nutley stories as much as they had.
#22 was helping to raise everyone’s level of play to a new plateau. However, the cohesion which had been developing between this group was shaken for the first time in October of that year. The varsity Quarterback fell victim to a broken collar bone against the Bengals of Bloomfield. Popular senior, Kicki DelGuercio was sidelined. The Nutley Maroon Raiders were next on the schedule. It would be baseball star, Georgie Sheridan moving from halfback to quarterback, and freshman sensation Rich Luzzi to halfback. #22 had been brought up at 14 years old. Now he was with his own heroes…Caruso, Bartell, Worley, Annicarico. They never questioned whether he belonged. He quietly began to make history. He would become the first player to earn four varsity letters in football in modern times. Coach Ed Berlinsky of Bloomfield and North Carolina fame whispered to those who knew the game, “I think I found the one who runs like I did.”
In his sophomore year in 1960, with Belleville still struggling for consistency, Rich earned a permanent place in the backfield. Childhood friend, Joe Latore, was also getting some playing time. The freshman and JV teams were winning.
It was in Rich’s junior year when it seemed that everything would come together for him and his friends. Everyone now seemed to be playing above their abilities as Joe Latore connected with #22 on a spectacular 65 yard TD Pass-Run against State Champion East Orange. However, in the second game against Bloomfield, with Richie establishing himself as an outstanding back in Essex County, we were stunned when he broke his collar bone. With Rich out for most of the season, it seemed as if everyone in Belleville Football rallied to dedicate their season to him. The freshman and JV teams went 15-0. And then much to everyone’s surprise, and to the disagreement of the doctors, Rich returned late in the season, now demonstrating another dimension to the gang of friends and teammates who had become loyal to him. A depth of character and maturity beyond his years would set an example that few have forgotten. It was an exercise in persistence and determination in the face of pain. It would characterize him on the football field and off of it for the years to come. He ended the season against Orange, leading the team to victory, still playing with a harness to protect the broken bone.
The fall of 1962 was cooler than usual. However, it did not take New Jersey long to discover the hottest back in the state. Tom Testa was the new Belleville coach, and the pressure was on for Rich and his friends from the neighborhood. Only nine games to create the kind of legendary aura that Mr. Orsini had storied about those Raiders of Nutley… trains to Florida for the mythical National Championship?
Rich was simply spectacular from Labor Day to Thanksgiving Day in 1962… and so were his friends from the old neighborhood. His scrimmages attracted college coaches. Outstanding in defeat against State Champion East Orange with its six teams on the depth chart, Rich danced, darted, and drove through every opponent. Belleville won eight straight. In three games, he scored the first touchdown on the first play of the game. He hardly played in the fourth quarter during those eight games.
Belleville was finally on the map, neighborhood kids had a genuine hero, and his teammates were seeing before their very eyes that even in Belleville football dreams could come true. Rich Luzzi had helped his teammates break through a barrier. It would be a lesson for life. The stories about Nutley greatness years ago had had an effect.
Rich and his friends from grammar school and the rest of the guys who were honored to be on the same field with him were all champions now. His feats were of All-American proportions. In his five touchdowns performance in his final game, was he even tackled? Everyone had a college film day, that day against Orange because #22 was their pied piper; they were all playing in a realm they never thought possible.
In 1962, Rich established the Belleville High School Scoring Record and led Essex County in scoring as well. He was selected All- County, All-Metropolitan, All-Area, All-State, and All-American by every possible publication or wire service. His high school All-American selection in Scholastic Magazine brought it home to all the kids in Belleville. It was part of the Weekly Reader …. Rich Luzzi, Half Back, Belleville HS, New Jersey, All American.
After the historic win over Nutley, Herb Stutz of the Newark Evening News would write: “Rich Luzzi put on one of the finest individual performances of the season…”
In The Herald News, John Teehan commented: “A guy named Rich Luzzi was spectacular as a runner and receiver, who was as tough to stop as a garbage can rolling down hill with the wind behind it.”
In a personal note reflecting upon his own life’s service to the game of football, the late Doc Ellis, for whom the Belleville Football Field is named, wrote: “I have seen Belleville greats like Rocco Cafone, Jim Apple, Bob Paganelli, and Gene Barra. At the regional and professional level I have worked with Cliff Baskerville and the Mumford Brothers of East Orange Fame. Not one of these men could hold a candle to the pint size package of dynamite named Rich Luzzi.”
It was then off to Greenbrier Military Academy in the south to prepare Rich for Division 1 Football and the Tigers of Clemson. In the deep south, they had respect for the powerful two-way back. After all, wasn’t he from the same neighborhood as Don Chuy and Ron Scrudato of Nutley High School?
Three years in the defensive secondary and a couple of offensive starts distinguished #22 at this great university. In the fall of 1968, it was an All- Atlantic Coast Conference year at defensive back for him. However, once again, it would be with the ball under his arm that he would make history.
With the Nationally ranked Georgia Bulldogs on the other side of the ball, Rich sprinted to the corner of the end zone to pick up a blocked field goal. It was payback time in the South for the Italian American kid from the big tree section of Belleville, right on the Nutley line. Rich would not let them forget that he still knew how to put the ball in the endzone. 108 yards later, with seven broken tackles behind him, Rich Luzzi made history… an NCAA record that still stands to this day.
Word got back to all of his old friends and teammates scattered in Colleges, Medical Schools, Law Schools, and jobs across the country. Their old friend, modest and quiet as ever, was still letting his actions do the talking.
With his new bride and high school sweetheart, Annette Cleffi, Rich returned to Belleville. The Cleveland Browns of the National Football League invited him to spend time with the Jersey Jays, their Continental Football League affiliate. Rich responded with an All-League performance in 1969 as a running back and kick returner. However, being back in Belleville reminded Rich that some things never change… well almost.
Rich’s sleep on the Sunday mornings after the Saturday night Jay games would not be disrupted by the bumps and bruises of professional football. Rather it would be his old friends again, from King Street to #5 School, who would be ringing the phone off the hook. “It’s time to play in the Essex County Touch League, and all the Nutley guys are going to be with us!” But now the stories of Cardinale would be complemented by those of the Nutley State Champions of 1960 and, would you believe, the exploits of the Bellboys of 1962 and the achievements of #22…. Relationships for a life time, the seed of an idea for this great dinner… all of this was birthed as the former Nutley and Belleville players joined together on Sunday mornings, with Rich in the middle of the huddle.
No sooner had Rich hung up his cleats when his old classmates, Mike Chieffo and Chicky Puleo, said it was now time for him to teach the young how to play Championship Football. Rich reluctantly and modestly took on the head coaching position of the Belleville Broncos. Wearing the Orange of Clemson, but bleeding Belleville Blue, Belleville kids learned from an All-American. Almost immediately, Coach John Senesky, one of Rich’s teammates in ’62, found himself a feeder system that helped to fuel his great playoff years of the 80’s. Rich Luzzi had once again made an impact on Belleville Football.
Today, Rich and Annette are still in Belleville. He has continued in the construction industry that he learned from his dad and his proud brother, Jimmy. Their children now have children, as Rich and Annette are proud grandparents, three times already. You can find him most weekends at the Rosebud Coffee Shop near the stadium. His old friends, and some new ones are there as well. They are devoted to him. The new friends don’t have to see the films… they believe all the stories… they see the depth of character in his eyes. “ The situations of life did not make Rich Luzzi, they revealed him.” Oh yes, on most Sunday afternoons in the fall you will catch him at the Bog… his son, Jason, is learning the game that allowed his dad’s god-given talents to be demonstrated.
In conclusion, Rich Luzzi, #22: We all salute you on the historic retirement of your number. You have honored your family, neighborhood, town, high school, and heritage. Because of your example, #22 will never be worn again by a member of Belleville High School Football.
WELL, A STANDING OVATION OF 200+ FOLLOWED, THE STATE LEGISLATURE, BELLEVILLE BOARD OF EDUCATION, AND OTHER WELL-WISHERS CAME TO THE PODIUM AND ADDED THEIR HONORS. THEN RICHIE THANKED US ALL. HIS COMMENTS WERE BRIEF, SINCERE, AND FROM HIS HEART. IT WAS THE GREATEST NIGHT FOR HIM AND FOR US WHO PLAYED WITH HIM. AND THEN THERE IS THE REST OF THE STORY...
Only three years later on a cold February day, Rich Luzzi passed away suddenly at the age of 57. He had been ailing for a couple of years, and in the end, his heart gave out. For those of us who knew him well, we were assured Rich Luzzi was in a better place. Just a few months before his passing, he humbly surrendered his heart to the Lord, knowing his life had been a gift of God, and assured he would be welcomed into eternity by the One who had become so fond of him.
We mourned our loss, knowing that little Belleville, New Jersey, a blue collar town, had lost one of its heroes, ... its own Mickey Mantle. He was a great teammate, quiet, talented, and consistent. While he never saw his youngest child, Jason, play football or baseball at Belleville, we think the Good Lord might have given Richie a nudge the day his son was selected All Essex County in Baseball, ... and a pat on the back of the proud father.
And so, that's the story of Rich Luzzi, #22. His example to so many teammates spurred them on to greatness in their own worlds of Law, Medicine, Sales, the Ministry, Teaching, and Coaching. Yes, whenever we get together, we speak of #22, because he was our Pied Piper, he was our Mickey Mantle, he was our own Legend.
Joe Cervasio back home, right on the Belleville-Nutley line, thankful I had a teammate named Rich Luzzi.
Thank you so much for posting this beautiful speech/article about my Dad on your website. Reading it was a reminder of how much of an impact he made throughout his life and how much we miss him. I always think of how unfair it is to have lost him so soon, especially for my brother being so young. But then I read an article like this and it puts things into a different perspective. He suffered for too long and now he is in a better place watching over us. Thank you for keeping his memory alive and have a Happy and Healthy Holiday season!
Posted by: Darbi Luzzi | December 05, 2008 at 12:29 PM
Dear Darbi,
I know how proud your Dad was of all his children. Yes, his memory will always be alive, and as you follow in his footsteps, you will be guaranteed of seeing him again. My best regards to your Mom, sisters, and Jason for a blessed Christmas season.
Sincerely,
Joe Cervasio
Posted by: Joe C. | December 10, 2008 at 04:03 PM
I must assume that the above article about Richie just hasn't been seen by enough people. Surely the comments woud be in the thousands because what Joe Cervasio wrote,is all true. I moved from Newark to Belleville in 1958. Make no mistake, I was much younger than Richie but I did play football later for Belleville as my brother richie did before me. Both of us played quaterback.Richie was a hero to all of us. He was all of the things mentioned above. Humble,athletic and one thing always noticed. Always good with the younger kids in town who idolized him. You know, I must say that in the history of Belleville it seems that this group ,Richie,Chick Puleo,Joe Cervasio,Jim Orsini,etc,clearly had to be if not the best,then certainly one of the best group of kids in Belleville history!! When I heard of Rich's passing I was shocked. A young man.Typical Hig School story whom I might add lost a daughter if I am correct. I am 56 years old now and you here of some that have gone. I didn't know Doc Ellis died. A tremendous young man.I have three sons of my own. One is an attorney with Frank Pomaco in Belleville. I feel good that I have my blood back to where I grew up. There were many great memories back then and Richie Luzzi was the best EVER that Belleville had to give!!! I might add that Joe Cervasio was really ahead of his time in his intellect and maturity. A great guy who always had time for us younger guys!! Jim Orsini's story is a great one. I remember Jim coaching Belleville why going to school and calling me a punk which is precisely what I was.Today Jim is an oncologist at Clara Maas which I am sure you all know. In ending. Thanks Joe Cervasio. I am happy I was fortunate enough to run into this article. As we have become older and those of us see our children and grandchildren grow up we can only hope(and I mean this) that they could be as fine a young man as Richie was. Sincerly ed del Guercio Jr.
Posted by: Ted Del Guercio | October 01, 2009 at 11:38 PM
Of course I knew I forgot the most important thing of all. I am so glad to hear that Richie gave his life to the Lord.This,more than any other,only enhances Richie's legacy forever. It is nice to know I will see him again in his walk with our Lord!!! Ted Del Guercio Jr.
Posted by: Ted Del Guercio | October 01, 2009 at 11:44 PM
Teddy, how well I remember you and your God-given talent in football and baseball. And, of course, my Dad Rocky always spoke of your Father as one of Newark's greatest baseball players!
So glad to hear of the success of your boys and the role the Lord plays in your life.
Stay in touch. Yes, we miss Richie, Chickie, and the rest of the Bellboys who have gone on to their eternal reward. But, as you know, we will see them again. And thanks for the kind words.
Go Bellboys, go Bucs,
Joe cervasio
Posted by: joe cervasio | October 03, 2009 at 10:17 AM