Bill Gonillo honored by
Bluefish
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A year later,
when general manager Charlie Dowd held the championship trophy high and led his
players and his manager on an impromptu celebratory conga line through the
stands, Bill Gonillo was there, TV camera propped on
his shoulder.
Throughout all
the years, the good seasons and the not-so-good ones, Gonillo,
the sports director for News Channel 12 in
Food was a
love. Covering sports was his passion.
But last
September, that passion left us. Gonillo, who battled
diabetes for over 20 years, died at his home in
While Gonillo may be gone, his memory will live on. The Bluefish
have seen to that. On Sunday, they honored Gonillo by
naming the press box at the Ballpark at Harbor Yard after him. It was part of a
day designed to celebrate a life and raise awareness and money for diabetes
research.
The idea to
honor Gonillo originally came from Stacie Guilfoyle, the wife of Mike Guilfoyle,
the Bluefish's all-time leader in saves. She first met him at
"I was
ushering then and he asked me where he could get something to eat," Guilfoyle said, smiling. "Of course, nothing was open
but I went up to the kitchen and got him something. That was kind of it, we
just bonded from there."
Whenever Mike Guilfoyle got into the games, Gonillo
always made it a point to find Stacie, who was dating the pitcher at the time.
The two would wind up talking about everything. Everything
except baseball.
"He'd
always come over to me whenever Mike was pitching and we'd laugh and joke. A
couple of times, I held the camera for him so he could interview people,"
Stacie said. "A couple of other times, I'd hold it so he could get
something (to eat)."
Bluefish CEO
Mary-Jane Foster remembers watching Gonillo on
television, doing a TV game for Cablevision. "The first time I met him was
after I'd seen a broadcast," Foster said. "It was after one of those
games they did and I was so amazed at how much he knew. I was scratching my
head thinking, 'How does he know all this stuff? How can he get up there and
just do that?' I was so surprised.
"It (the
relationship) only got better after that. I don't know a guy ... there are very
few people in the world whose heart can expand the way Bill's did. I so enjoyed
spending time with him. What a great guy."
As part of the
pre-game ceremony, which included the unveiling of the sign over the press box
door on the concourse level, Gonillo's father Vito,
83, threw out the first pitch. Gonillo's mom Judy,
along with his sisters Christine and Vita were on hand.
"I have
to think that Bill had something to do with this," Judy said, looking at a
beautiful sunny, blue sky, in sharp contrast to a forecast that called for rain
and cold. "It's a beautiful day and a special day."
The team
donated a share of the ticket sales from Sunday's game to diabetes research and
the Bluefish Booster Club also donated $100.
He worked for
12 years at News Channel 12, three times winning the Associated Press
"Broadcaster of the Year" award. But before that, he was the radio
voice for
There was
magnetism about him. And pull that you couldn't resist. I don't think there
ever was a time that I didn't see him with a smile on his face or with a warm
greeting. And if there was something funny going on, Gonillo
would be right in the middle of it.
"He was
great. He was always there for you," Stacie Guilfoyle
said. "He was good for a hug or a kind word. He was just a great person."