Thousands pay tribute at Angel Stadium to Altobelli family members killed in Bryant helicopter crash
As Buck Taylor, John Altobelli’s colleague in the college baseball coaching world, told about 4,000 people gathered Monday in the stands at Angel Stadium in Anaheim about their brotherly adventures on and off the field, three birds — pigeons, probably — swooped low and fluttered together over what would be the pitching mound during the season. Then they flew together toward the right-field foul pole near a message board bearing the names of “Alto” (Altobelli), “K” (his wife, Keri) and Alyssa, their 14-year-old daughter.
And there they perched. They, like the Altobellis, were at home in the ballpark.
John, Keri and Alyssa lived in Newport Beach, where Alyssa attended Ensign Intermediate School. They were lost in the Jan. 26 helicopter crash in Calabasas that also killed Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, Christina Mauser, Payton and Sarah Chester and pilot Ara Zobayan en route to a girls’ basketball game Bryant was to coach at his Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks.
Alyssa played for the Mamba team with Gianna Bryant and Payton Chester.
But baseball was the core of the Altobelli world.
John Altobelli, 56, won four California community college state championships and 705 games in heading the baseball program at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa for 27 years.
After winning his fourth state championship last season, Altobelli was named National Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Assn.
The Newport Harbor High School alumnus played baseball himself at Golden West College in Huntington Beach and at the University of Houston.
But Taylor, a longtime baseball coach at Palomar College in San Marcos before joining the pitching staff at Kansas State University last year, said Altobelli’s record wasn’t why so many people gathered in the seats along the third-base line Monday.
“I think we’re here because he exemplified what a coach was, what a coach should be. He definitely dedicated his life to his craft. He loved it,” Taylor said. “He’s a man of high character. Selfless. Put others first. Was a leader. Motivator. Father figure.”
Jeff Piaskowski Jr., who played and coached under Altobelli at OCC, said “he wasn’t a great coach because he knew the X’s and O’s better than anyone else” but because he could persuade others to willingly follow his lead.
Clarke Smith, Altobelli’s friend since childhood, said loyalty, trust, respect, work ethic and love defined “Alto” as a teacher, mentor, coach, father, husband and friend.
“Powerful words,” Smith said. “But Alto backed them up every day.”
Monday’s ceremony came about two weeks after 2,000 people packed OCC’s Wendell Pickens Field for the Pirates’ season opener and pregame tribute to the coach and his family, just two days after the fatal crash.
On Jan. 30, mourners filled Mariners Park in Newport Beach for a candlelight vigil for Alyssa, whose basketball jersey number, 5, has been retired by Ensign Intermediate.
Lori Lever said Monday that Keri Altobelli, 46, was straightforward, “real” and fiercely loyal to her tight circle of friends.
Lever said she found her intimidating when they first met. Then they became like sisters.
“I thank God that he didn’t allow me to judge a book by its cover, because when I had the opportunity to read all the pages, I found my best friend,” Lever said.
Keri attended virtually every OCC baseball game. When John first met her, he gave her his number scrawled on a baseball. He said to call him for a date.
“While the lives of Keri, Alto and Alyssa are lost to this physical world in which we live, as evident in the outpouring of love and support, their individual legacies of courage, loyalty, family, fortitude, laughter and love will live within and through us all,” said Keri’s brother Derek Sanders.
Alyssa’s Mamba teammate Allison Eadie said that “no matter how many times she got knocked down, she always got up stronger and fought harder. She was not only a great player but an amazing teammate.”
Sammy Forbath said she never had to text her parents to tell them she was at her best friend Alyssa’s house after school, because it was a given. Alyssa taught Sammy her basketball moves. Sammy taught her soccer moves.
Now Alyssa is “another star in the sky,” Sammy said.
“I will always do my best to make you proud,” Sammy said. “I know you will always be cheering me on.”
The Altobellis are survived by John’s son and Keri’s stepson, J.J., 29, and daughter Alexis, or Lexi, 16.
J.J. Altobelli, a scout for the Boston Red Sox, said the support his family has received since the tragedy is “truly amazing. ... It really shows the impact my dad, Keri and Alyssa had. ... The legacy they left behind will continue to live on through all of us.”
Other memorials for crash victims
Christina Mauser, the Mamba squad’s assistant coach and a mother of three, will be remembered Sunday at her alma mater, Edison High School in Huntington Beach.
It will be the second public memorial for Mauser in her hometown. A candlelight vigil was held at the Huntington Beach Pier on Feb. 1. Sunday’s ceremony at Edison starts at 1 p.m. at 21400 Magnolia St.
Mauser, 38, was a standout forward for Edison, where she graduated in 1999.
A memorial for Kobe Bryant, 41, and Gianna, 13, is planned for 10 a.m. Feb. 24 at Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.
The memorial is public but seating will be limited.
The Bryants lived in Newport Coast and Gianna was an eighth-grader at Harbor Day School in Corona del Mar.
Vanessa Bryant, Kobe’s wife and Gianna’s mother, wrote Monday on Instagram that “I’ve been reluctant to put my feelings into words. My brain refuses to accept that both Kobe and Gigi are gone.
“Then I realize I need to be strong and be here for my 3 daughters. Mad I’m not with Kobe and Gigi but thankful I’m here with Natalia, Bianka and Capri.”
Payton Chester, 13, and her mother, Sarah, 45, of Newport Beach were honored Saturday with a private service at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School in San Juan Capistrano, where Payton was an eighth-grader and Sarah was a member of the board of trustees.
“We will miss them and think of them often as we now begin the arduous process of trying to live our lives without Sarah and Payton,” Chris Chester, Sarah’s husband and Payton’s father, said in a statement.
The Los Angeles Times and City News Service contributed to this report.
Updates
10:33 p.m. Feb. 10, 2020: This article was originally published at 10 p.m. and has been updated with new information.
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