Pitt assistant baseball coach mourns loss of 'absolute gem' in Kobe Bryant crash

John Sansone doesn’t have time for social media.

The Neshannock graduate could make time, but he’s more interested in getting his coaching career started in his first year as an assistant on Pitt’s baseball team.

So, he didn’t immediately know what happened Sunday on a hillside in Calabasas, Calif. He didn’t know a man he admired — a man who coached and mentored him in 2014 on the Brewster (Mass.) Whitecaps of the Cape Cod League — died when a helicopter crashed into a hillside, killing all nine of its passengers.

Sansone’s coach, John Altobelli, his wife, Keri, and daughter, Alyssa, were among the victims that included NBA great Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna.

Sansone, 26, finally heard the horrific news Monday — that his former coach was on board — when he got a call from former Florida State teammate Danny De La Calle.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Sansone said. “I still can’t believe it.”

Seated inside Pitt’s batting cage facility Wednesday at Cost Field, Sansone remembered Altobelli as a “players’ coach.”

“He was a very charismatic coach,” he said. “He loved his players. He was definitely a guy who if you got your work in, he liked you.

“I know all the players who played for him loved him. It’s just such a shame for his family. It’s such a sad time. I still don’t feel like it’s real.”

Sansone, who was an All-American at Florida State and an eighth-round draft choice of the Cincinnati Reds in 2016, has spoken with Altobelli occasionally since their summer together.

“I was thinking about it (Wednesday),” he said. “When I got drafted, he was one of the first people who reached out to me and said congratulations and how happy he was for me.”

Summer league baseball often breeds strong bonds among players and coaches. Each player is singularly focused on one goal — improving as a player with an eye toward pro ball — and a good coach can facilitate that.

“It’s all baseball,” Sansone said. “Go to bed, wake up, eat, go right back to the field.”

Sansone said he learned a valuable lesson from Altobelli.

“The biggest thing I took away from him is to be aggressive,” he said. “In baseball, being aggressive at the plate, being aggressive in the field, and in life. He would tell us you have to be aggressive. Get what you want.”

Both men came from Italian backgrounds so Sansone said they would joke about each other’s favorite food.

“He liked cavatelli. I always remember telling him I like stuffed artichokes and lasagna,” he said. “He would always laugh.

“That’s how you become a players’ coach is getting to know your players outside of baseball, helping them with life and that’s really what he did.”

How far did Altobelli go in taking care of his players?

“If you were in an argument with the umpire,” Sansone said, “he’d come running out to push you away. He took care of his guys.”

During his summers in the Cape Cod League, Altobelli coached such major league players as Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees and Scott Kingery of the Philadelphia Phillies. But his chief job was as the baseball coach at Orange Coast (Calif.) Community College. He was preparing for his 28th season at the school where he won more than 700 games and four state titles.

Please join us in supporting the Altobelli family: https://t.co/j20YvjMfck

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/g7MJqdMNEk

— Red Sox (@RedSox) January 27, 2020

Before the opener Tuesday night, the school held a ceremony to honor Altobelli’s memory. Among those attending were Altobelli’s son, J.J., a scout with the Boston Red Sox, and his oldest daughter, Lexi. Former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole also was there. ESPN reported the crowd stretched from “foul pole to foul pole.”

pic.twitter.com/i7eNHxvxi1

— Gerrit Cole (@GerritCole45) January 29, 2020

“It’s crazy to think his life is taken like that,” Sansone said. “He was an absolute gem of a person.”

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