The voice was unmistakable. Deep, slightly nasally, and loud. Boy, was it loud. But that's good, because everyone wanted to hear what that voice had to say, whether they agreed with it or not. As the center of attention at Fred & Pete's Deli, Broad Street Diner, the backroom of Mercer Locker Room sporting goods store or in the Broad Street Park dugout, Chuck Giambelluca could be heard. "Oh yeah," Tinker Johnson, who played for and coached with Giambelluca on BSP, said with a laugh. "You knew he was there. And he wanted you to know he was there!" Sadly, he is there no longer. The voice has been silenced way too soon for anyone who knew him. Giambelluca, an A-list celebrity in Hamilton Township and Mercer County athletic circles, was claimed by COVID-19 on Oct. 9 at the age of 77. "He was simply the best there was," stated Rider pitching coach Mike Petrowski, the only man besides Giambelluca to manage Post 313 to a New Jersey American Legion state championship. "He molded and changed so many lives." Giambelluca is most famously associated with Broad Street Park, which he managed from 1970 to 2005 before becoming the general manager until 2019. Hamilton West Athletic Director John Costantino, the current Post 313 manager, played three years for him and also worked closely with him when Costantino coached the Hornets baseball team. "He is an icon in Hamilton Township sports," Costantino said. "It's hard to even put into words what Chuck meant to us as a coach, mentor and a friend. He was a straight shooter and told you like it was, usually in a colorful way. He didn't use kid gloves. I respected his honesty and tried to live up to his expectations on the field every day." BSP is just one of Giambelluca's legacies. A permanent backdrop at Mercerville's Fred & Pete's Deli was a gang of ageless wonders arguing about countless subjects in a booth before adjourning to the front of the eatery for another two hours. Giambelluca was the ringleader, with close friend Joe Gorla and an army of others by his side. "I started going to Fred & Pet's on a steady basis in 1998, and Chuck always held court, whether it was inside or outside," former Steinert baseball coach/athletic director Rich Giallella said. "Many times it got heated, whether it was sports, politics or whatever. He was always one of the mainstays of the talk. You'd sit there and listen and got nothing done half the time, and no one's opinion ever got changed." One thing that surely never changed was the fierce rivalry between Post 31 and Post 313 . . . READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

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