John Amendola Remembered as a Good Sport - On, and Off the Field

Members of New City Little League are remembering longtime member John Guy Rosario Amendola of New City as a true leader - on and off the field- as they mourn his death on Saturday at age 52.

Amendola was known as a loving and caring husband, father, friend, and member of the community. Amendola also served as vice president of the Junior/Senior baseball division in New City Little League. He became involved when his son started participating in Little League and stayed on long after his son had moved on from the program.

Amendola is remembered by league members as a dedicated, hard-working, easy going, caring guy who was a pleasure to work with.  This sentiment is expressed on the NCLL web site, where they acknowledge the hole that he leaves behind in their organization.  They remember John "the Corporal" Amendola  for what he did for their organization and for always saying, "I just want the kids to play."

As V.P. of the Junior/Senior division, Amendola's duties included managing the older division and arranging for field usage.

NCLL field engineer Ed Roth remembers Amendola as "very down to earth."

"He was laid back, easy to talk to, and just a nice guy," Roth said. "He was a pleasure to manage against.  Back when he used to manage, our teams would play and his team and my team always had good games." 

Roth, who had served on the NCLL Board of Directors with Amendola for a number of years, also recalled Amendola did a good job as a director.

"John was very flexible and you would always want to have John there because he was open to different ideas and such a positive contributor," said Roth. "John was the type of guy you would want on your committee.  He had his own ideas, however, he would always listen to yours as well.  He was such an open and very easy to like type of guy."

NCLL vice president of Softball Mike Salmon, echoed Roth's sentiments of serving on the board with Amendola. 

"As a board member, I found him to be a very nice guy and part of the Board for the right reasons,"  said Salmon, who saw that Amendola was serving on the board for the sole purpose of really making things better for the kids.

NCLL chief umpire Lee Roberts, remembers Amendola fondly. 

"He was a very dedicated person at New City," Roberts said. "He was there for years, a good guy, very responsible with the kids, and very involved overall.  He was a terrific guy. He was a very fair minded guy. He always looked at the sport to teach a life lesson, so he really looked at the game the way it was supposed to be looked at, as bigger than a game." 

Roberts also remembered how Amendola taught the kids the important lesson of being a standup individual by always being fair to the umpires, other teams and their coaches.

"He put the interests of the game and the interests of the larger lessons first," said Roberts.  "It's important to look at it that way, and he really believed that some things are more important than winning or losing.  He taught a lot of life lessons to a lot of kids and that's really what the role of someone involved in little league should be."

Rockland County Legislator Ed Day, who knew Amendola through his many years as a coach in the Junior division, said Amendola was an outstanding volunteer.

"They will create a special place in heaven for those who volunteer," Day said. "John is the epitome of that observation and has always been known as a go to guy in Little League.  He will be sorely missed."

A Mass of Christian Burial was today at St Francis of Assisi Church, West Nyack, with burial in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Hawthorne. The Amendola Scholarship Fund, c/o Lisa Gagliardi, 31 Elmwood St., Pleasantville, N.Y. 10570 has been established in his memory.