Brad Myers

The News Journal

Longtime Archmere football coach Jerry Ambrogi, a successful businessman who molded young lives and poured countless resources into his alma mater, died Tuesday night after a lengthy battle against cancer. He was 58.

Ambrogi was a three-sport athlete at Archmere, graduating in 1976. He returned in 1983 to coach basketball and track and field and serve as a football assistant. He took over as the Auks’ football coach in 2001 and won 99 games, second on the school’s all-time list to Bill Doyle.

The longtime president of J. Ambrogi Food Distribution Inc. in Thorofare, New Jersey, Ambrogi often used the fruits of his labor in the family business to support Archmere and Delaware high school athletics.

“If you wanted to stick a label on him, he was Mr. Archmere,” said Jim Malseed, the Auks’ athletic trainer for the past 36 years.

Ambrogi paid for the construction of the Auks’ football stadium. But, like most of the things he financed, he never wanted his name attached.

“We joked that the field with the big ‘A’ should have been Ambrogi Field, because he donated it,” said Salesianum football coach Bill DiNardo, one of Ambrogi’s closest friends since they were teens. “But he did not want the credit for it. It became Coaches Field, because he wanted to recognize all the great coaches in Archmere’s past.”

Archmere athletic director David Oswinkle said Ambrogi left a permanent, positive mark on the historic private school, located in Claymont.

“The things that he did for the kids here at the school, and underprivileged kids who came here that weren’t football players, he’s got a big heart,” Oswinkle said. “He gave so much to the school and the community. He gave of himself and his pocketbook, and would do anything to help.”

Howard football coach Dan Ritter was part of Ambrogi’s final game. His Wildcats edged the Auks 38-30 in the 2015 season opener, after which Ambrogi stepped away due to his health. Ritter said Ambrogi applied his successful business approach to coaching, often pushing the Auks past their expectations.

“He was a class act,” Ritter said. “He was an exceptional person, both on the field and off the field. He cared for you, he treated you like a person, and you wanted to play for the man.”

Broad support

Ambrogi supported every facet of Archmere athletics, and the school in general.

“Everything he did revolved around the kids,” Malseed said. “Not just his players, the entire athletic department. He was the coach you saw at the volleyball game, the boys basketball game, the girls basketball game, wrestling. Every season, he got to at least one game for every team here. All the kids knew him.”

He bought uniforms, chartered buses for long trips, paid to feed teams on the road — all without ever seeking recognition.

“He donated something to every program here,” Malseed said. “Be it uniforms or equipment, and it was all done anonymously. If the soccer team needed new nets, who paid for it anonymously? It was always Jerry.”

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That generosity spilled across all of Delaware high school sports, as well. Ambrogi was heavily involved in the annual DFRC Blue-Gold All-Star Football Game, well beyond having been Blue head coach in 2005 for the 50th game and a Blue assistant in 1987, 1992 and 2002.

His company was a major sponsor and supplier of the annual June game at Delaware Stadium, which aids children with cognitive disabilities. In recent years, he had paid for jerseys and various camp expenses exceeding $10,000 annually, said DFRC executive director Tony Glenn.

“He was so generous in his soul and his spirit first,” Glenn said, referring to Ambrogi’s belief in equality and inclusion. “He was concerned about everybody. He just always had empathy, and so much compassion. He is what the whole Blue-Gold experience is about.”

Middletown coach Mark DelPercio, a Delaware Interscholastic Football Coaches Association officer, recalled when DIFCA started its All-State banquet in 2004. The association unexpectedly came up about $2,000 short on its bill from Dover Downs.

“He wrote a check for $5,000,” DelPercio said of Ambrogi. “He said, ‘Put this in the account. This is all about the coaches. We’ll never be short again.’ Those were the kinds of things Jerry did for us, for everybody.”

Business and football

Malseed, the Auks’ trainer, saw Ambrogi go to great lengths to coach his football team while still running his business. Archmere used to have a seven-day preseason football camp, with players sleeping overnight in the gym.

“He would get up at 4:30 in the morning, leave here, go up to the food distribution center in Philly, put his order in for his business, and be back here by 6:30 for the start of practice,” Malseed said. “Later during preseason, he would be in the coaches’ office on his computer, on his phone, talking to the managers of his business. He would take care of his business, then go back out on the practice field.

“He wanted to coach high school football. It was his driving passion.”

And he had fun along the way. DiNardo wore an Archmere cap during Salesianum’s 45-8 victory over Sussex Tech on Thursday night at Baynard Stadium, and he was eager to share stories about his longtime friend.

“He was funny,” DiNardo said. “He just made me laugh constantly. From the time we were in high school and I got detentions because I laughed at him, to the time we were football coaches — whether it was during the game or during the week — our conversations were always sarcastic and he always made me laugh.”

Kevin Charles, who recently retired as executive director of the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association, recalled a touching email he received from Ambrogi after a state playoff game at Lake Forest. The Auks won by one point, and Ambrogi wanted Charles to know how impressed he was by the Spartans’ outstanding sportsmanship and treatment of his players and coaches.

“He was a behind-the-scenes kind of guy, even as a coach,” Charles said. “He was one of the best coaches in the state, but when you went to the football banquet, he was just another guy. He just enjoyed being around football people, and people in general.”

One of the final ways Ambrogi helped Archmere was by making a surprise appearance to talk to the boys’ lacrosse team the day before their DIAA tournament semifinal game against eventual champion Salesianum in June.

“He got his frail body out of bed and came in the day before that game and spoke to our lacrosse team in the locker room,” Oswinkle said. “You talk about some tears and a moving moment, and a moment the kids will remember forever. That’s what he cared about.”

In 2008, when Ambrogi was named Archmere’s Alumnus of the Year, he was asked if he would ever retire. He said, “I will. I just do not know when.

“My problem is that each year I say it will be my last and then I introduce myself to the next generation of Archmere students, I fall in love with them, and they keep pulling me back in the mix for yet another year.”

“He just loved Archmere, and he loved giving back,” Oswinkle said. “Football was his outlet, and it was always, ‘Whatever I can do for these kids.’”

Ambrogi is survived by his wife, Kristy, and three children – daughter Jessica and sons Christopher and Michael. Funeral arrangements are pending.

News Journal reporter Kevin Tresolini contributed to this article.

Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ.