Staten Island teen who died after practice recalled as ‘great kid,’ respectful, by St. Joseph by-the-Sea teammates, coaches
Coaches and teammates are recalling Nicholas Dellaventura, the 15-year-old St. Joseph by-the-Sea football player who died after practice yesterday, as a great teammate — and an even greater person.
“Nick was just a great kid, and a sweetheart of a young boy,” said Rich Clark, head coach of the Vikings football team. “He was just the same he was off the field — jovial. Just a happy-go-lucky kid, happy about life, happy about football, the same way he was on the field.”
Clark said the Sea community is heartbroken.
“Our condolences go out to this family — they’re like family to us,” he said.
Freshman head coach Sean Cusick said Nicholas, whose friends called him Nick, was a great football player — so good that, as a freshman, the offensive lineman was bumped up to the junior varsity team.
“Just an all-around great kid. He had a passion for football, a passion for life. His smile basically lit up a room,” Cusick said. “Soft-spoken but a great football player.”
Cusick said what struck him most in the wake of the tragedy was the way teammates — past and present — came together.
“What hit home with me last night was the amount of kids that showed up at the emergency room,” Cusick said.
That included many alumni, some who played football with Nicholas’ older brother and Sea graduate, Danny Dellaventura.
“Once you graduate this thing doesn’t end — it’s still family,” Cusick said.
“Family” is the football team’s motto — it’s what they shout at the end of a practice or a drill.
“We break on family, because that’s what we believe in,” Cusick said.
Teammates and friends took to social media — especially Twitter — to memorialize their friend, recalling him as a nice and respectful student and football player. Many fellow football players referred to the team as their “Viking family.”
“We’re definitely going to dedicate this season to him — definitely,” teammate Robert Orlando, 17, of Bulls Head, said in a telephone interview.
Nicholas was well-liked, Orlando said.
“Honestly, he was one of the nicest persons I ever met,” he said. “He was very respectful. I’ve never seen him talk back to anybody. Always being a team player, always working hard.”
“He showed tremendous hustle on the field,” he added. “I wish I had half the hustle he had on the field.”
He was on the field yesterday when Nicholas was taken away by ambulance, but said he and other players didn’t think it was serious — every now and then someone is injured playing the game, Orlando said.
“They weren’t doing anything strenuous though, it was one of the first days of practice,” he said.
Throughout the evening, word filtered back to teammates that the situation was more serious than they thought. The death of a teammate and friend hit the Sea community hard, he said.
“It’s like a bad dream,” Orlando said. “I just want to wake up.”
Nicholas was stricken at the end of a voluntary football workout yesterday evening, according to Archdiocese of New York spokeswoman Fran Davies.
Nicholas and the rest of the team “took a knee,” according to a statement released by Davies and based on a school accident report. That’s when coaches noticed that Nicholas’ breathing seemed labored, and that he could not stand up on his own. They began administering first aid and immediately called 911.
While awaiting first responders, Nicholas was conscious and verbally responsive, Ms. Davies said.
He was taken to Staten Island University Hospital, Prince’s Bay, where he died several hours later.
A spokeswoman for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said an autopsy was conducted today and the cause of Nicholas’ death is pending further investigation.
A woman who answered the phone at the Dellaventura residence in Huguenot said it was a “solemn time” and that Nicholas’ mother, Maria, would not be able to comment late this afternoon.
Nicholas’ father, Daniel Dellaventura, died at 39 in 2002 of cancer, according to Advance archives.
Other student athletes have been stricken in the past. In 1997, Marlon Albert Hurley, 14, died hours after a voluntary conditioning workout for the Susan Wagner football team.
Peter Gagliardi, a Great Kills resident, died of an apparent heart attack during a McKee/S.I. Tech track practice in 1995.
McKee Vocational High School student Joe Costales, 17, a wrestler, was left in a coma after a massive heart attack during a Wiffleball fund-raiser at the Staten Island Technical High School athletic field in 2007.
After Frank Reali III, 36, died suddenly from an undetected heart ailment in 2007, his parents Fran and Frank Reali set up a foundation to help pay for screenings, such as echocardiograms and electrocardiograms, for children ages 12 to 14 entering high school sports.