Behind Blue Eyes: The Legend of Joe Cervino

Joseph Walter Cervino has no regrets.

“It’s been a great ride,” said the recently retired baseball coach. “Everything has worked out exactly as I mapped it out when I graduated college.”

Cervino, 62, is a baseball lifer.

He learned “pretty much everything” from his father—also Joe—a former Teaneck High School baseball coach.

“He had me out in the backyard from when I was 2 years old,” said the son. “Fielding ground balls and fly balls, swinging a bat, hitting off of a tee, playing pepper.”

When he got a little older, Cervino was the batboy for his father’s teams.

(The elder Cervino, now 88, was a regular at all of his son’s games this past season.)

Now, Cervino never played for his father at Teaneck. He was an infielder for New Milford.

“We had a good team,” he said. “The pitching wasn’t that great."

“We finished second to Tenafly in the league championship,” Cervino added. “Senior year we lost in the second round of the counties.”

Cervino was one of three Knights players that signed professional contracts after college. Second baseman Tommy Higgins signed with the Philadelphia Phillies, shortstop Jeff Kalish signed with the Minnesota Twins and Cervino inked a deal with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Cervino, who wears No. 7 for boyhood idol Mickey Mantle, played for Springfield College (Mass.) for three years.

He led the team with a .342 batting average in 1970, and set the single-season stolen bases record (42) in 1971.

Cervino, a first team all-New England selection, helped guide the Pride to the Eastern Regional Tournament crown his junior year.

The following season, Springfield finished fourth in the Division III College World Series.

Following his collegiate career, Cervino traveled to Florida to begin his professional career.

He hit .238 between the Gulf Coast League Cardinals (rookie ball) and the St. Petersburg Cardinals (Single A).

“It was great,” said Cervino, who batted lefty, but threw righty. “It was unbelievable playing in the Gulf Coast League. It was one of the top single A teams—it was just like playing in the big leagues.

“We’d get there for batting practice at 5 o’clock,” he added. “The game would start at 7:30. After the game, people were waiting, wanting autographs.”

Cervino and his roommate lived in the Edgewater Beach Motel, and walked to the field, which was a mile away.

“We just had a blast,” Cervino said.

In his time in the Cardinals organization, Cervino played alongside John Denny, Tom Cruz, Pat Zachry, Doug Flynn and Jerry Royster, who all went on to play in the majors.

But while playing for the Cardinals, Cervino was drafted—this time by the military—as he spent six months in basic training for the National Guard.

“Once I missed spring training,” Cervino said, “I didn’t have a chance to come back."

“It was probably a blessing in disguise being that I was undersized (5-foot-7, 165) and didn’t have a lot of power. I probably never would have made it to the majors anyway.”

If he continued with baseball, “I would have had to give up my teaching position at ,” Cervino said.

He student-taught at East Brook Middle School in 1972 and was offered a teaching position before he graduated from Springfield.

On being fresh out of college and teaching, Cervino said, “It was a blast.”

At East Brook, Cervino coached the baseball, football and wrestling teams.

“In those days, there was a big rivalry with , the Teaneck schools and the Fair Lawn and Ridgewood schools,” he reflected. “I really enjoyed it—great preparation.”

Cervino coached the freshman baseball team for 10 years and won the Bergen County Tournament in 1973.

After PHS became a four-year school in 1978, Cervino made the move across Spring Valley Road.

He took over the varsity baseball team in 1982, and is just the second coach in Paramus history after Bob Kingsley, who started the program in 1960.

“The best part of our program is the continuity of the coaches that played here,” Cervino said. “They know exactly what to expect. We have the same philosophy from ninth grade all the way through the seniors at the varsity level.”

For the last 30 years, Pat Warburton, who played on Cervino’s 1974 freshman squad, has coached the PHS freshmen. Jon Morrisette, who was the captain of Cervino’s 1995 varsity team, has coached the JV squad for nine years. On varsity, Vic DiPasquale, the captain of the 1983 team, has been an assistant coach for his old skipper for 24 years, after a distinguished baseball career at Seton Hall.

“I got yelled at when I was a player,” said DiPasquale, who stole 79 bases as a Spartan. “I got yelled at when I became his assistant coach."

“I’m still getting yelled at, so nothing’s really changed,” he quipped.

“[Cervino’s] probably the most consistent when it comes to routine,” DiPasquale added. “That’s what makes him a champion.”

Some of Cervino’s former players—Matt Corso, Dave Ferrara, Mike Liberti, Marc Palestina, Joe Palmaccio, Mike Putrino, Mike Santana and Scott Zymet—have also returned as volunteer assistants.

“It makes me proud,” Cervino said. “We must have done something right. It’s a great support system for a coach to have.”

This past season, being his last, stuck out the most to Cervino. The 2011 team matched the school record of 25 wins, which was set in 1964.

“It was a fantastic way to go out [ and sectional titles],” Cervino said.

Off the field, members of his came to visit him back in May, and his wife, Pat, organized a retirement dinner held June 4.

“It was fantastic,” Cervino said of the event, which nearly 300 people attended.

In a 30-year career as the varsity head coach, Cervino finished his career with 538 wins and only two losing seasons.

He coached 15 players who were first team all-county selections—one (Mike Bassett) was all-state.

The Spartans won nine league titles (1984, 1987, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2005-06, 2009, 2011) and three state sectional titles (1989, 2003, 2011) in Cervino’s tenure.

Cervino wanted to stay around long enough to coach his children.

“It was probably the best experience of my life,” he said.

His oldest son—also Joe—graduated in 1996. He was the captain of baseball team his senior year and was a three time all-league selection, before going on to teach and coach at Lakeland High School.

Cervino’s daughter, Christie, graduated PHS in 1998. She played volleyball and softball and was a manager for the wrestling team, which her father guided to more than 300 wins before he retired from the sport in 2003.

Cervino’s youngest son, Dan, graduated in 2002, and was a district champ in wrestling.

Even though he gave up wrestling the year after his youngest child graduated, the longtime coach still wanted to stick with baseball.

“Giving up wrestling allowed for full concentration on baseball,” he said. “Wrestling is a long, intense season. Being able to focus on baseball all fall and winter made it a lot easier.

Cervino also retired from teaching—he was a physical education and health teacher.

He manned the dugout for another eight years, and on his decision to retire, Cervino said, “Now, it just seemed like the right time to give somebody else the opportunity.”

And while he will no longer be the Spartan skipper, Cervino added, “Maybe I’ll come back as an assistant coach for one year."

“It’ll be fun being able to come back as an assistant and help with Frankie [Colasante] and Tyler [Garguilo] and Robbie Bonastia and all the juniors and freshman, Alex Castro, some of the sophomores who got a chance at the end of the year.”

Cervino also noted the “tremendous wealth of talent” that Paramus possesses.

, and the JV team finished as the runner up in North Jersey Tournament, which encompassed teams from three counties.

“Everyone should be enjoying Paramus baseball for a long time,” Cervino said.

“Hopefully whoever inherits the program is going to continue to coach for a long time. There’s a lot of rich tradition here.”

Cervino’s retirement will be spent babysitting his two granddaughters—the family is also expecting a grandson, due in October—fishing and swimming at his lake house in western New Jersey, and of course, watching baseball.