Lawrenceville, NJ - Francis "Sonny" Pittaro, the head coach of the Rider University baseball team since 1971, announced today that he will retire at the end of the 2004 season.
Recently elected to the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, and will be inducted in January 2005, Pittaro is the all-time winningest coach of any sport at Rider. Now 65, Pittaro owns a 743-667-8 record against a schedule acknowledged as one of the best in Eastern baseball. His 743 wins ranks among the top 50 in the nation among active coaches, and represents over two-thirds of the total number of baseball victories (1,086) in the 61-year history of the sport at Rider.
"It's been a wonderful journey, and I've enjoyed every minute of it," Pittaro said, who in the last 20 years has guided Rider to eight NCAA Tournaments, including the 1987 East Regional, where the Broncs advanced to the championship round, the final 16 in the national tournament, and was ranked 24th in the nation in the final season poll. "I'm extremely grateful to Rider for providing me with an opportunity to do something I've loved, to provide for my family, and to work with so many great young men over these many years."
"I consider Sonny Pittaro to be the 'Dean of Rider Coaches' not only because of his 34 years of service to Rider but, particularly, for all that he has accomplished during those 34 years in leading the baseball program to success in so many ways," Curt Blake, Rider Director of Athletics, said. "His involvement on the national level for the betterment of collegiate baseball provides testimony of his dedication and love for the game. His recent selection to the ABCA National Hall of Fame is so very much deserved and a fitting culmination to an outstanding career. I know that I speak for many when I say that I hate to see him leave Rider but I'm also happy for him and his family with his decision to retire at this time. He will be missed by many."
Under Pittaro Rider has won nine conference titles, including three Northeast Conference Championships, and three of his last five teams reached the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship game. His 1998 squad won the MAAC-South in its first season in the conference.
Thirty-eight of his Rider players have gone on to play ball professionally, including James Hoey and Carl Loadenthal of the 2003 squad, and three reached the major leagues; Jack Armstrong of the mid-1980s, Jeff Kunkel, who was the third player chosen in the first round of the 1983 major league draft, and Ed Whited, a 1986 graduate.
Pittaro completed his reign as the President of the 7,000 member American Baseball Coaches Association in 2002, and currently serves as a member of the ABCA Board of Directors. He served two three-year terms on the prestigious NCAA Baseball Committee, and for 11 years was on the Division I All-America selection committee.
By a vote of his fellow coaches, Pittaro has twice been named the Diamond Baseball Coach of the Year in the East Region. He was twice the East Coast Conference Coach of the Year (1986, 1991), and twice honored by the New Jersey Baseball Writers Association as the University Division Coach of the Year (1980, 1984). In 1994, he was named the Northeast Conference Coach of the Year. In 2001 he was the MAAC Coach of the Year.
Five times under Pittaro a Bronc has earned All-America honors, including Jason Koehler, who also earned GTE Academic All-America honors in 1995, and Ken Kremer, who won the 1988 Division I National Batting Title.
"I hope to travel with my wife, and play some golf, and see what happens," Pittaro said of his leisure days to come.
Sonny and his wife Elaine, a former English teacher at Nottingham High School who coached the 1987 New Jersey softball champions, reside in Hamilton Township. They have two children, Chris, a member of the 1987 Minnesota Twins world championship team and currently the director of scouting in the Oakland A?™s organization, and Elena, a graduate of Penn State University, and six grandchildren.