NJSIAA to give Steinert legend yet another honor Dec. 1
Rich Giallella has lived most his life giving everything he’s got to Steinert High School athletics.
But his contributions to students and young athletes go well beyond his alma mater, which is why he is receiving one of the most prestigious awards the New Jersey athletic world has to offer.
On Dec. 1, Giallella will be inducted to the NJSIAA Bollinger Hall of Fame for his accomplishments throughout over 50 years as a player, coach, athletic director and basketball official. Giallella’s induction class includes eight people, including three former NFL players, who will be honored at the Pines Manor in Edison.
“I’ve known Richie as a coach, as an athletic administrator and as a friend,” said Steve Timko, the NJSIAA’s Executive Director. “He’s an outstanding individual and somebody who definitely deserves the award he’s receiving.”
Hamilton West athletic director John Constantino feels the same.
“This is absolutely well deserved,” he said. “Richie’s an outstanding guy, outstanding teacher, outstanding coach, outstanding athletic director. He’s a guy I emulated growing up as a young player. I wanted to always play for him, but never got the opportunity. I got to coach against him and learn from him. I’m just grateful I was able to take some things from his career and apply them to mine.”
Giallella himself feels that being honored simply for doing what he loves is like being honored for sitting down to eat a gourmet meal or going to the movies. It’s something he enjoys, and he insists his supporting cast of athletes, coaches and fans are the ones who should be lauded.
“I have received a lot of awards, and I always kind of look at it like it’s too much,” he said. “When you do something for your entire life that you like, and you’re dealing with kids all the time, it seems as though the kids should receive more than the coach.”
A couple of those kids see it differently, starting with his own.
Brian Giallella took over for his dad as Steinert’s baseball coach 16 years ago when Rich became athletic director. He has known him as a dad, as a coach—playing under him with Steinert and Hamilton Post 31—and as a boss.
“It was like oil and water at times with us,” Brian said with a smile. “Honestly, there were hard times but a lot of good times, and I really enjoyed being able to see him every day. Not only with him coaching me, having him as an athletic director was great. To be able to communicate with him, his knowledge of sports and coaching in general were obviously such a big plus for not only me as a coach, but our entire athletic department.”
Of all the honors Giallella has received, Brian said this current one might be the most prestigious.
“It means he’s been there, he’s been successful not only as a coach but as an educator and an administrator,” he said. “It really is a great honor, and I’m really so happy for him.”
Another “kid” agreed. Joe Gmitter, a member of the Steinert Athletic Hall of Fame, played for Giallella in the mid 1980s and continues to seek his council.
“I look up to Richie very much to this day; I’m still asking him for advice,” Gmitter said. “He’s one of the best teaching coaches I was ever fortunate enough to play for. He’s dedicated, more so than anybody I’ve ever come across in this township in terms of wanting to teach, coach, manage and learn all the aspects of the game.
His off-the-field influence, though, was just as important, added Gmitter.
“He also helped me and a lot of other kids grow up at an age where you need some guidance, need somebody that you can look up to and admire and take some things away from,” he said. “His passion, dedication and overall commitment to sports in general, but mostly baseball, is unbelievable.”
Giallella grew up in a blue-collar environment. Knowing his son’s fierce passion for baseball, his father, Dick Giallella, would come home from a hard day of work at General Motors and take Giallella to the fields behind Hamilton’s Municipal Complex and pitch to him for hours.
They were experiences that stayed with Giallella and instilled a work ethic.
“I’d hit line drives off his legs. He had no screen protecting him,” Giallella said. “He just let me work, let me hit and let me hit some more. I look at what my father did, and today they don’t do that. They spend a hundred dollars an hour to let someone else teach their kid. But he was always there, and I got that mentality and that was the type of athlete I was. I wasn’t the best player, but I was a blue collar player who worked the hardest to beat you. He gave me an attitude to work, and I took it.”
And he took it far. Giallella became a standout baseball player and soccer goalie at Steinert. He praised coaches like Jake Tarr, Jim Wilno, Bob Pivovarnick and Dick Lieber for helping show him the way.
His initial plans were to attend Bordentown Military Institute to improve his academics, but he was coerced into attending Rider College by Tarr. It turned out to be the right move as Giallella became a star soccer player, as well as a centerfielder for the only Broncs team to reach the College World Series. He credits coach Tom Petroff as being another huge influence on his career.
From there, the Phillies signed him, and he was a minor league all-star before injuries stalled his blossoming career.
After Brian was born, Giallella knew it was time to establish a career, so he became a history teacher at Steinert in 1975. He had more mentors in that field, not to mention good friends and fellow coaches in Hamilton residents Vince Ardery, John Wagner—a Rider teammate—and Gary Bushelli, among others.
“When I started teaching I would borrow John Wagner’s notes,” Giallella said. “He was a great teacher. I’d go over to his house and say, ‘What do you have to help me with these kids, to give them some different lessons?’ I was always told to pick on people that are better than you for help.”
Giallella took over the head baseball coaching job in 1983, and there were few better than him in that field. In his 17 seasons, Steinert went 401-111 with nine Colonial Valley Conference championships, eight Mercer County Tournament titles, six Central Jersey Crowns and five state titles. He was the Newark Star-Ledger’s Coach of the Decade for the 1990’s and was named CVC Coach of the Year six times. He also served as an assistant soccer coach.
But as is his way, Giallella passed much of that credit on to others. He noted that during his incredible run, Ron Yacyk and Jim Benedict were the freshman and JV coaches, respectively, for that entire time.
“That never happens,” he said. “People are getting new freshman and JV coaches every year, but these guys stayed with me for a long time, and I don’t know why. It was like an assembly line. Yacyk prepared them as freshmen, Benedict handled the JV, and they knew who was ready and when to send them to us. They got them ready.”
He also cited his son, Frank Gatto and Jim Giglio as other key members of his staff later in his career.
He had no coaches as Steinert’s athletic director, but he still had his desire and passion, which allowed him to excel in that position, as well. Timko said Giallella was always receptive and always ready to solve problems.
“That’s the thing that impressed me the most—he was able to see the other side after he got on the other side,” he said. “He may have given Paul (Tessein) some more gray hairs when Paul was athletic director but when he assumed the position itself he understood.
Leadership is in Giallella’s blood. He serves as President of the Mercer County Athletic Christmas Eve Club, an organization that raises money for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen each year. Despite attempts by others to usurp his power in that position, he has held on and overseen expansion of the club to over 40 members who give to TASK.
And even though he is out of the AD’s seat, he still plays the role at times.
“I really didn’t ask him for tips when I got that job, but he always gave me tips,” said Costantino, who served as Steinert athletic director before taking the same position at West. “It wasn’t like I had the choice. But his passion is unmatched by anybody. He still rides by the fields at Steinert and complains when something isn’t the way it’s supposed to be. When the field hockey field isn’t cut just right, or the soccer field didn’t look right, he would make sure he called and made sure somebody got on it.”
And he is still a mainstay at Spartan athletic events, no matter what the sport and no matter how successful or struggling a team is. He remains part of the present, but also treasures the school’s rich tradition as a member of the Steinert Athletic Hall of Fame and Mercer County’s sports heritage as a member of the Trenton Selection Committee.
He is also still coaching, assisting Rick Freeman on Post 31.
Not to be forgotten is that he was a long-time high school and college basketball official.
“I used to be the basketball (officials) assignor,” Timko said. “He was an unbelievable basketball official and if there was ever a big game, he was the one you wanted on that game. He was always on the preferred list. He was able to anticipate as an official. He was always in the right spot. He just had a great all-around career.”
A career he refuses to acknowledge without giving credit to others, including his wife, Kathy, who also taught at Steinert. With her support, he was able to develop the students and athletes who he insists are the ones who made him.
“You receive awards for accomplishing something, but really the accomplishments belong to the kids,” he said. “That’s as simple as I’ll make it. It’s about the people you’ve been paid to teach and educate and mentor and be a friend to. That’s basically how I see it.”
Members of the NJSIAA Hall of Fame committee see it a little differently, however, and made sure Giallella knew just how they feel.
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