By now, most of you have heard of the passing to our beloved Elite Squad Coach and friend Sergio Ambros. For those of you who haven’t, Coach passed away after a massive heart attack on the baseball field while he was joking with parents and the boys were warming up. We spoke about it at the hospital among the players and parents that showed up after they heard the news of his passing, that other than be with his wife and his granddaughter Jordan, it might have been the best place where he would have wanted to go out because of his love and passion for teaching the game of baseball.
I first met Sergio when he was coaching his son, Troy Ambros with a team by the name of Broward Storm and then they eventually became the Weston Rattlers. I looked at him as this big guy, full of energy and really instructed the kids while he was out there. At the time I was playing college ball so I would just occasionally show up to my brothers game. I really didn’t know him that well other then when my father introduced me, but those of you that have ever met Sergio, you meet him once you wont forget him. He had an unforgettable personality. If he wasn’t making you laugh, he was getting the boys fired up during a game. After the first time I met him that day on the field when I was just helping call pitches for my dad’s 13u team, I knew I liked him. Little did I know where our relationship would go.
Fast forward 3 years, right after I was eliminated from the district playoffs as a first year Head Coach at University School held at Broward College I went to sit in the stands to watch the semi final match up starting at 7pm. I cant remember who was playing but I remember this big guy with this loud deep voice say “Hey Rich” motioning for me to come sit by him in the stands. He grabbed me and told me how proud of me he was and what a great job I did with the group that I had that year. At the time I am this 22 year old, first year high school coach while most of the coaches in the district had been there for years, including himself who was at Chaminade Madonna as an assistant. Let’s just say I didn’t have much interaction with many coaches during that year. I don’t know if it was because I was the youngest coach in Broward County or if it was because at the time University School was never considered any good at baseball but I never had any interaction with coaches other than my own assistants. So as I approached him and he congratulated me on a great first year, I said thank you and was planning to find a seat to watch the game by myself before he asked if I was going to stick around, I told him yea and he said “alright lets go up here in the bleachers to get a good view”. I cant even tell you if we watched the game that night, we spent the whole game talking about the battles he had with my dad during their travel ball games, how my first year of high school ball went and advice he gave me moving forward. He told me how heated the rivalry got in travel between his team and my dads team but how much he loved and respected my dad. This was the first time I had really had a conversation with him other than a simple “hello and how are you” as we passed each other at the parks growing up in travel ball. We spent the entire game talking about baseball and life. After the game was over I shook his hand and thanked him for all the kind words about my first year and the nice things he said about my father. On the way home I had a couple missed calls from my dad. I called my dad and he too congratulated me and asked how the night game went. I told him who won but I really didn’t watch much of the game. I spent the entire game talking to Sergio. I told him about the stories he told me and he laughed and added to them as well. I also asked him, “Dad, you think Sergio would be a good coach for me to hire and help me with Elite Squad?” He told me ” Richie, Sergio is as good as gold. He’s one of the guys I’ve built a relationship with throughout the years and you’ll love him”. Little did I know that my dad, at the time had hit it on the head.
I got Sergio’s number from my dad a few days later and made the phone call. I explained to him that I was running a summer team that included my brother and some of the players that he had coached during his youth travel ball years. I was looking for a catcher, which Troy was the starting catcher at Chaminade and wanted him to play on our team, but I also wanted him to coach. When I told him what I was thinking he told me that he wasn’t sure at first. Now its important to remember, Elite Squad was a nobody at that point. Travel ball wasn’t what it is now, and it was coached by a 22 year old with, one year of high school experience, 15 players total in the organization and no college connections. As I continued the phone call I told him what I wanted to do and how we could help this group find college scholarships. By the end of the conversation I could tell he was fired up but he still told me he has to sleep on it because originally they had plans to play with the school team over the summer. In typical Sergio Ambros fashion, I got a phone call early in the morning, waking me up telling me “I am in”. Since that day, in April of 2007 Sergio Ambros has never left my side.
Sergio is responsible for turning the Elite Squad program to an organization. I only had the vision of coaching one team, helping these kids move on to college and making myself a better coach in the process. He saw something and believed in a 22 year old me that summer. He told me that we could help a lot more players if we did a few things differently and pretty much laid out the blueprint. There is no way possible that I could have done this on my own, and I didn’t, he was there every step of the way to help. Sergio and I coached side by side for the last 8 years. We shared car rides, plane rides and hotels together. He got me to even take interest in the Yankee’s. For those of you that know Sergio, he loved 3 baseball teams, Elite Squad, West Broward and the Yankees. Those of you that know me, I loved the Red Sox but his stories of Thurman Munson, Reggie Jackson and Billy Martin before we both knocked out for the night made me ask him questions like I was a little kid asking about baseball hero’s. This long time Red Sox fan slowly started to like the pin stripes a little bit more because of his friend and how passionate he was about them. We are twenty years apart but were inseparable, like best friends since high school. There were times we drove each other crazy like brothers because we were so much alike. We had our superstitions as well.
The year we won the WWBA (East Cobb) we lost the first game which in this type of event can knock you out of playoff contention. Both of us extremely upset, we went back to the hotel room showered and just laid down. After a few hours of not saying anything he went to publix across the street and stocked up on drinks and snacks because we were going to be there the rest of the week. Always looking out for me, he grabbed a couple things for me as well. The next morning he opened up a bag of Ritz Crackers and SOBE juice drinks and skipped breakfast. He told me he really wasn’t that hungry, I think its because he was still upset at the loss from the day before. Anyhow, we won the next 5 games and clinched a playoff spot. You better believe each of those days we both had the same thing for breakfast, me with my wheat bagel only cream-cheese, and his Ritz Crackers with juice. We got rained out before the last day of the tournament pushing us to have to win four games on the final day in order to be crowned champions. Games started at 8 am pretty far from the hotel. As it would have it both myself and Sergio woke up in a hurry and scrambeled out of the hotel to show up at the field before the boys did. We stopped at the chick fil a across the street cause we were both starving. After inhaling the food, driving to get on the highway I hear Sergio scream “DAMN IT”. I looked to the passenger side in a panic asking him what happened. He looked at me and told me ” I forgot to eat my damn crackers and juice”. This is right after he had eaten a chicken biscuit. Knowing damn well how superstitious I am, I told him not to worry and we will be fine, I was kind of pissed but I wasn’t going to make the man eat a 2nd breakfast. His words to me were “Hell, no. I am not losing this damn tournament because I forgot to eat my damn crackers” So I turned around went back to the hotel so he could get his crackers and juice. The poor guy was struggling to finish them since he was so full from chick fil a but he did right before we got to the field. We won the first two games at Kell High School that morning and then had to head out to East Cobb Complex for the final four round. As we were talking to the boys before we went over to the complex a couple of them were complaining about how hot it was (which it was. It was middle of July and water stuck in the dugouts from the night before made it seem like it was a sauna) but it typical Sergio Ambros fashion he told the boys “Hey, enough of that. I’ve had a damn stomach ache for a damn week eating crackers and this watered down juice so we can win this damn tournament no excuses!” the kids had a good laugh at that knowing how superstitious he is and I lost it laughing knowing he was telling the truth. As it would have it we went on to win our forth game of the day and were crowned The 2012 WWBA 16u Champions, all because of those crackers!
Every time I won a tournament as a coach, Sergio was by my side as my assistant. He was there for me in my biggest moments in my career but more importantly he was there for me for the biggest moments of my life. He was there the day I got married and there the day my daughter was born. Most people assumed that because we are 20 years apart he was like a second father to me. No, he wasn’t, he was like my best friend.
I find myself, yesterday and today reliving the times we had together. As the man of my house I’ve tried not be emotional in front of my daughter and wife but I cant help but cry when I go for a drive or close the door to my home office to be alone, just to let it out. I’ve had to stop writing this a few times already but I felt like I had to write this to let everyone know how important Sergio is to me and my family. I already miss him so much. He called me every day for no other reason than to just talk. I cry thinking about his family and how much he meant to them and how much he loved them. That was his world. The amount of people that have reached out in support has been amazing, but every time my phone rings I look at it with some hope his name and the picture of him in an Elite Squad uniform pops up just to have one more conversation with him. As the shock of this all has worn down today, has been tougher than yesterday but I know they say with time it will heal. I am sure it will, I just hope I can have the impact on a single life that he had on mine.
Sergio, I know you are watching us from heaven and will get a chance to read this when you finish the current Yankee book your on, but I want you to know how much I love you and miss you. I am so glad I got to spend the last nine months with you helping you at West Broward because I know how special that place was to you.
For those of you that would like to help and donate to Sergio Ambros’ family please follow the link provided below. We will also provide service information to everyone when it becomes available:
