To Absent Friends - Chuck Spatafore

In the course of your lifetime, if you are lucky enough, you will meet a small handful of people about whom you will say "I've never met anyone quite like him."  If you are really lucky, as I was, one of those persons that you will have encountered would have been Chuck Spatafore, who passed way peacefully this past Friday.  Chuck was never one to give his age, but he was somewhere in his early nineties.  If anyone can be said to have lived a full and rich life, it was Chuck.

I first met him in 1988 when I began working at Blue Cross of Western Pennsylvania.  Chuck and I were fellow Account Executives working in the area that sold to and serviced Taft Hartley Health and Welfare Trust Funds.  It didn't take me long to realize that this guy was one of the most engaging, and certainly one of the funniest, guys that I had ever met.   Chuck was a jazz drummer of renown in the greater Pittsburgh area, and he had worked as a professional musician throughout the country.  This "show biz" background allowed Chuck to accumulate a wealth of stories about many famous persons, both locally and nationally.  He also knew a million jokes, and could tell them in such a way that provoked great fits of laughter.  I can honestly say that Chuck was the funniest guy that I have ever known.

Here's just two stories that I loved hearing Chuck tell.  And I had him tell them to me many times.

In the mid-1960's, Chuck was the drummer in the house band at KDKA-TV Channel 2 in Pittsburgh,  Yes, local TV stations actually had such things as "house bands" back then.  One day, an up and coming rock and roll band from England came through town and needed to generate some publicity for their Pittsburgh gig, so they appeared on a local show down at Channel 2.  That group was the Rolling Stones.  (This was a long time ago.)  Anyway, the gist of the story was Chuck telling everyone how he got into it with "that skinny bastard Charlie Watts" as he, Watts, kept tinkering with Chuck's drum kit.  "I wanted to kill him and that would have been the end of the g.d. Rolling Stones."

Another time, Chuck was playing in the band at the old Holiday House night club when Milton Berle was the main act.  After one of Berle's jokes, Chuck gave a rim shot on his drums, whereupon Berle glared at him and said "I work alone, drummer."  Needless to say, Uncle Miltie was not one of Chuck's favorites.

Like I said, Chuck knew everybody.  He went to North Catholic with Dan Rooney, and played football at Dayton University with Chuck Noll.  So Chuck was connected to the Steelers.  He coached football at North Catholic High School with Tom Foerster.  Foerster went onto become an Allegheny Counter Commissioner and a major force in local Democratic politics, so this meant that Chuck was connected with just about any politico that mattered in the Pittsburgh area.  Among all of his connections  - show biz, sports, politics - Chuck knew just about everyone, and he usually had great story to tell about all of them.

Chuck retired from the Blues in 1996, and I am glad to say that he and I kept in touch, and every time we talked, the old stories would be told and I would be in tears with laughter.  Later this week, I will visit the funeral home to pay my respects to Chuck and his family, and I am certain that there will be more laughter than tears as everyone celebrates a full life that was certainly well lived.

I don't know who in his family composed the death notice for Chuck that appeared in the paper, but I want to quote from it here:

He inspired everyone who knew him to keep moving, keep smiling and keep going. Chuck was an extrovert in the best sense of the word. His joy for life was infectious, his storytelling legendary and his humor unmatched. No one could leave a conversation with him without a laugh, a grin or a new favorite anecdote. He had a deep love for his friends and family always bringing his signature warmth. Chuck Spatafore was a true original: a drummer, a teammate, a jokester, a gym rat, a sports fanatic, a dear friend, and a loving family man. He leaves behind a legacy of rhythm, resilience and joy. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you honor Chuck by doing what he did best: tell a good story, listen to some great music and make someone laugh. 

A perfect description.

RIP Spats.

This picture was taken at a mini-reunion of the Blue Cross "Foster Plaza Gang" in 2014.  That's Chuck, front row, right.  Me on the left with Michelle Hickey Cerminara, who organizes these reunions, in the middle.  Ken Cikovic, Bill Hepfinger, and Judy Jones standing behind us.