Tovie Asarese

Bucky Gleason
COMMENTARY

Last week was typical of Tovie Asarese's summer existence, which means he spent five days working and five evenings managing baseball and softball teams in Buffalo. He's 77 years old now. Many of his former ballplayers are grandparents. Some have retired and moved away. Some have passed away.

       Tovie? He's never been more alive.
       You know a man has left a lasting impression when everyone associated with him refers to him by his nickname. There might not be - no, there can't be - another person who has done more for youth sports in Western New York than Ottaviano "Tovie" Asarese.
       Tovie never married, never had any children, but to suggest he was without kids would be a great injustice to the work he's done in this community since 1953. Think about what 52 years means. It's 10 U.S. presidential administrations, going back to Dwight Eisenhower. The Dodgers were in Brooklyn, the Braves were in Milwaukee and the A's were in Philadelphia.
       "We've gone through a lot of years," he said. "We wanted kids who wanted to play baseball for the love of the game. We took kids who showed up for every game. Whatever I was doing 50 years ago, I'm still doing it. As long as the kids respect you, you stay with it."

       The kids can be counted, but the respect is immeasurable. Tovie's boys and girls are doctors and lawyers, cops and firefighters, teachers and coaches. They are his friends for life. His shop at Royal Printing Company Inc., which he founded on the West Side in 1953 after the Korean War, is a shrine to the teams he coached and the minds he shaped.
       The best way to judge a man is not by what he says but what others say about him. People speak in reverent tones about Tovie. They gush about his selflessness, his commitment, his love of sports and the people who come with them. How he's been ignored for the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame is a mystery, recognition he never sought but richly deserves.
       The All-American Amateur Baseball League is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and nobody can claim more time in the 20-and-under league than the Royal Printing team he's sponsored and managed for 37 years. Royal Printing was the first team to go undefeated, in 1976. It was 36-3 in a three-year span, including playoffs.
       "All the volunteer work that that man has done and the time he has given to this community is phenomenal," said Phil Ganci, who played for Royal Printing during that stretch. "Of all the coaches I've ever had in my life, he's the kindest, most considerate man I have ever met - by far, to be honest."
       People remember those AAABA teams. Amateur baseball was a local attraction at the time with thousands of fans showing up in Delaware Park for the big games. Many people didn't realize that Tovie was still making time for West Side Junior Baseball, West Side Ponytails, Midgets, the Police Athletic League, the American Legion and municipal leagues.
      "I had no idea that he was still coaching. That is amazing," said Luke Owens, a former pitcher who led the team in strikeouts in '76 and is an assistant principal and baseball coach in Boca Raton, Fla. "It shows you his love for the community. You could tell even back then that he was committed to kids."
       Basketball leagues Tovie started for boys and girls 25 years ago still exist, keeping kids busy and off the streets. He started a youth football league on the West Side, a street hockey league in the winter. There's a recreation center named after him on Rees Street. He had teams in the Randy Smith League because he wanted older kids setting an example for the younger ones.
       "It's why it was well worth spending time with them," he said. "They appreciate what you're doing for them. They stay out of trouble and grow up to be good kids and come back and help our programs. Girls in our leagues are managers and umpires. Players from AAABA come back and help me coach. I really don't know any kids who I've been associated with that got into any real trouble."
      It's hardly a coincidence. Tovie demanded respect and responsibility from his players, and in return they would learn about sports and have fun. All along, he was teaching less about the game and more about the game of life.
       Their names tell the story.
       Tovie coached Sal Buscaglia in grammar school and introduced him to officiating and coaching. Buscaglia is the best women's basketball coach this area ever produced. Pat Raimondo, the best player Tovie ever coached, spent a few years in the Dodgers' organization. Now he's a successful insurance man and raising his own kids to approach sports the way Tovie taught him.
       "He's done more for kids on the West Side than anyone I've ever known," said Raimondo, who has known Tovie for more than 30 years. "He's the best coach I ever played for. That counts amateur ball, Little League, college and pro sports. You wish there were more people like him. There's no end to what he's done."
       Tovie coached Phil McConkey, the former Giants wide receiver, and Rocco Diina, the Buffalo police commissioner. Heart specialist Salvatore Calandra played ball for him. So did Joe Mihalics, the former Bishop Timon/St. Jude infielder who recently signed with the Mets. There are many more.
       After awhile, you get the sense that there are only two kinds of players: those who played for him and those who wished they did. For all the years, all the teams, all the games, you don't truly understand his impact until you hear his former players speak about him. It translates to a lifetime of achievement.
       Tovie plans to keep working, keep coaching until heaven knows when, probably until he knows heaven. He says he wouldn't know what he would do without all the kids. You wonder what they would do without him.
       "Quit?" he said. "I could retire, but if I retired I couldn't do all this other stuff with recreation. It's like a central office. Everything revolves from here. I'll stay with it because I still enjoy it. It's pretty valuable."
       Actually, Tovie, it's invaluable.

e-mail: bgleason@buffnews.com

Buffalo’s best /The road to the Hall

Asarese a sports pioneer on West Side

By Amanda Comak NEWS SPORTS REPORTER

Buffalo News file photo
‘Tovie’ Asarese has been the father of many West Side sports programs.

Ottaviano “Tovie” Asarese never married or had children of his own, but hanging on the door to his office at his Royal Printing shop on Grant Street is a Father’s Day card.

The card is a testament to what Asarese has meant to children from the West Side. His commitment to amateur sports for the last 54 years has provided him with plenty of children to warm his heart and fill his days.

Asarese, who was integral in starting nearly all youth sports on the West Side, will be inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame this October as part of the 17th class of inductees.

“I was always interested in sports because I knew it was a way to live, a good way to live,” Asarese said. “I knew it was healthy and it would keep people busy and keep them out of trouble and that was the main thing.

“Growing up on the West Side there’s a lot of bad influences, even today, and I just thought it was a good thing to have kids play amateur, organized sports.”

A West Side resident since age 3, Asarese was involved in amateur sports growing up and wanted to be able to share that experience with other children. After fighting in the Korean War, he opened Royal Printing Co. Inc. and one of his first acts as a new business owner was to sponsor the Royal Printing All-American Amateur Baseball Association team — a team he still coaches and sponsors today.

That same Royal Printing team was also the first AAABA team to go undefeated in 1976 and over three seasons the team was a remarkable 36-3.

But the statistics don’t matter to Asarese, who also founded the West Side Ponytail Softball League, little league football, street hockey, countless basketball leagues and reorganized the West Side Boys Baseball league. It is the quality of people those programs put out that matters most — not win-loss records.

“To see these boys and girls grow up to be a credit to society to me is amazing,” Asarese said.

Among his former pupils, Asarese counts doctors, lawyers, politicians and countless others whom he says have “just done remarkably well.”

And although it’s gone now, Asarese’s greatest accomplishment may have been creating the West Side Play Area in 1970. Converting an empty church parking lot into paved, fenced-in basketball courts with lighting, Asarese created a safe place for children of the West Side.

“We had kids coming from the East Side, all over the city of Buffalo, to play basketball because they knew it was safe and it was good competition,” he said. “That was the best for me. It was also the biggest disappointment when they closed it.”

At a spry 79 years old, Asarese shows no signs of slowing down, let alone retiring.

“I wouldn’t know what to do then,” he said. “It keeps me busy.

“Being someone that’s involved with amateur sports, I’m not in the limelight but I enjoy what I do and I do it as a service. To go in [to the Hall of Fame] with these other people, who’ve been in the professional arenas, it’s an honor.”

sports@buffnews.com


Ange's Page	Site Index	West Side of Buffalo	Coniglio Home