School Community Reels After Beloved Coach's Death

Walt Whitman wrestling coach Vin Altebrando, who died April 20, was remembered as a positive influence who helped student athletes succeed.

By Peter Sloggatt
psloggatt@longislandergroup.com

The positive impact Vin Altebrando had on students and athletes after nearly 25 years as a teacher and wrestling coach was evident at a Miller Place funeral home this week.

Altebrando, a teacher and wrestling coach at Walt Whitman High School, died April 20, days after being diagnosed with of a rare auto-immune disease. He was 51.

The line of people waiting to pay respects stretched for a half-mile outside The Branch Funeral Home on Tuesday, according to one estimate, and some 1,500 filled the St. Louis de Montfort Church in Sound Beach for funeral services the following day. Among them were past athletes, wrestlers, students and colleagues from both Whitman and Miller Place High Schools, where Altebrando was involved in his daughter’s lacrosse program.

As a coach and teacher, Altebrando had a positive impact on the lives of hundreds of students, said Jim Wright, South Huntington School District’s athletic director.

“I’ve been involved in athletics a long time and I’ve never seen never more of the community – no, communities – come out to pay respects,” Wright said. “There must have been 2,500 people at the wake and another 1,000 waiting to get in. You got a real sense of how much Vin Altebrando meant to so many.”

In addition to teaching full time at Whitman, Altebrando coached the school’s varsity wrestling program, coached in Stimson Middle School and youth wrestling programs, and coached athletes involved in Special Olympics.

“He was always about putting kids first,” Wright said. “He said he’d gotten his accolades, and it was time for him to help kids get theirs.”

Those accolades included a county championship and trip to the state final where he was runner up in 1984 as a wrestler for Newfield High School. He was also a star football player

His 213 dual-meet wins as a coach earned him a high ranking on the Suffolk County Wrestling Coaches Association list of career wins. He coached two state champions and numerous league and county champions.

“He took a program that was really a doormat program and made it successful,” said Tom Fitzpatrick, a teacher and former varsity basketball coach at Whitman who was hired the same time as Altebrando.

 “Two alpha males coming in together… we hit it off,” Fitzpatrick said. “In 25 years we never had a disagreement. He always had a smile that lit up a room.”

The two, along with Tracy Hudson, started the Wildcat Sports Camp, a summer program that in addition to involving youngsters in athletics, involved older students as volunteers and later as paid employees.

“A lot of kids in the district were a part of it. Vin really was the heart and soul of it,” Fitzpatrick said, adding it was just one way Altebrando “had a huge impact on kids.”

Part of the reason for that was Altebrando “always found the good and the positive in kids, and gave them the opportunity to succeed,” varsity soccer coach John DiGiacomo said. “Vinny always welcomed kids into the office, into his circle.

“I don’t think he knew the kind of legacy he was leaving.”

A vigil of sorts was to be held Wednesday night at Whitman. In Altebrando style, it was to involve a workout. (“He was known to work out, sometimes twice in one day,” Fitzpatrick said.) In celebration of his life, participants were to walk part of the 3-mile run that was part of Altebrando’s daily routine.

Altebrando is survived by wife Kristie; four daughters Anjelia, Gionna, Natalie, and Mirabella; brothers Nick and Anthony; and by countless student-athletes he influenced over the years.

As DiGiacomo said, “There’s never going to be another Mr. Altebrando.”