Jun 18, 2005
By TIM WILKIN, Staff writer
The voice at the other end of the phone was cordial, as always. It also sounded tired, one of a man who has been through an awful lot.
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And, of course, he has.
"It's been a long road, buddy," Bob Bellizzi said Friday morning. "It's been a long story."
Those that know him know the pain and suffering Bellizzi has gone through the past nine years. They know of the bone-marrow transplant he had eight years ago to battle his leukemia.
And there has been the misfortune of a weakened immune system as well as cancer of the lymphoid tissues.
Just last December, while awaiting a kidney transplant, Bellizzi had to go undergo a quadruple bypass and that brought other complications upon him including infections and poor circulation to his lower extremities.
With his medical chart looking like a road map, Bellizzi has every right to feel sorry for himself, to be bitter about his condition. Yet, you find none of that.
He chooses to look to the future and the possibility of being back in the dugout coaching the College of Saint Rose baseball team next season. Those that know him best won't bet against him.
"Coach is a battler, he's a fighter," said former player Glen Barker, Bellizzi's only player to make it to the major leagues. "One thing he really loves to do is being out there with the guys."
"I am a huge Bob Bellizzi fan," said Brian Beaury, the Saint Rose basketball coach and also the associate athletic director. "He has so much inner drive. I have never seen anyone who has gone through everything he has been through and still have something to offer to others."
Beaury said Bellizzi's job as baseball coach will be his as long as he wants it. In the interim, the team was run by assistant coaches.
Bellizzi started the Saint Rose program 27 years ago and is closing in on 800 career victories. The Golden Knights were 24-25 this season and Bellizzi could make only a handful of games, all of them at home.
He is at home in Albany, with Kim, his wife of 23 years. He has five children, ranging from 11 to 28. A physical therapist comes in to work with him every other day.
What drives him is the thought of coaching again and also teaching social studies at Albany High School, a job he has held almost as long as he has been at Saint Rose. Despite his health issues, he won't allow the word retire in his vocabulary.
"I think I have nine years of coaching," Bellizzi, 56, said. "I'm not saying it's going to happen but it's something I want to do and it's something I think I can still do."
He has earned the admiration of his colleagues at Saint Rose, his players and, of course, his family. His wife has been with him every step of the way, calling his medical saga a "journey."
"He is the most inspirational man I have ever met," Kim Bellizzi said. "I mean, we have talked about him not coaching anymore but he really has a passion for it and he is very good at it."
