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Charlie Bloods remains dark this week as loved ones, friends and countless customers mourn the passing of the popular restaurant's owner, "Coach" Sal Benanti.
“My heart hurts,” wrote Jennifer Armstrong Alfonso in an online tribute. “He was an amazing man who was willing to help anyone. He was to so many people a mentor, a father, a friend and so many other things.”
Garfield was pretty much Italian and Polish when Salvatore Benanti was born in Passaic in 1941, a little over a year after his father – pro boxer Charlie “Blood” -- took over the neighborhood joint.
Both Sal and Charlie Bloods became pillars of a community that changed dramatically over the eight decades he lived in town. Consider that more than two dozen languages are now spoken at Garfield High School.
Benanti made a significant mark there, same as everywhere else in the “City of Champions.” The Class of 1959 graduate was such an accomplished football player that he was named to the Garfield Athletic Hall of Fame.
Benanti continued playing football while getting his bachelor’s degree at Eastern Montana College (now Montana State University in Billings). For the next 35 years, “Mr. B” taught gym and coached football in the Wallington school district.
He also began working at his father’s old school saloon on Frederick Street after turning 21. Before long he would own it. (Story continues below.)
Charlie Bloods became a neighborhood hearth, one that withstood the tumult and breakneck progress of the world as the decades passed outside.
Nearly every inch of its walls would be covered in posters and photos -- predominately of sports figures, mostly of boxers and football players, along with some country and western heroes and other memorabilia. The food became decidedly Italian mixed with various comfort food.
The clientele changed, as well.
For one thing, the ham-fisted men in silk suits and diamond pinkie rings who’d made the joint a pitstop for private conversation eventually stopped coming around.
Charlie Bloods eventually became a magnet for local ballplayers, coaches, athletic directors, school officials – and, yes, politicians – as well as for many New York Football Giants. Patrons have reported spotting Carl Banks, Mark Ingram, Curtis “Big Shaky” McGriff and even LT.
Then there’s the ranch/bunkhouse vibe created by various vintage “items” -- cowboy hats, bull horns and such -- that Benanti collected out west and at home over the years.
He occasionally updated the electronics, but the place always kept its classic feel.
Just like Sal.
“He was so sweet, but he didn't want everyone to know it,” said Terri Deliantis. “What a great teacher and person.”
“Sal always made you feel like you just came home,” Oscar Balloveras noted. “His warmth and good heart was palpable in every encounter.”
A mid-century man who became a community icon, Benanti “touched the lives of so many,” Patty Barnas added. He also “gave the best hugs," she said.
Benanti was active on the Garfield Board of Education for over 35 years and enjoyed coaching in Wallington and Saddle Brook.
He was “a true gem of a man," Kethley Parlegreco said. "We are all so lucky to have known someone as genuine and beautiful.”
“Coach will always be a legend,” wrote Christopher G. Sinisi. “Greatest to have the pleasure of knowing since I was in 4th grade. Stories of Mr. B will live on forever.”
Benanti was “a great teacher who gave me opportunities in HS and I think was the first PE teacher to get a student nominated and selected for Student of the Week,” Matt Palmer noted. “He was a legacy to Wallington and Garfield and anyone who came in contact with him.
“Even though I have not seen him in a while he would ask my parents about me," Palmer added. "Just goes to show what a person he was.”
A great grandfather himself, Benanti saw the second and third generations of families both in coaching and at his place of business.
“Good people – everybody’s friendly, thank God,” he once said of his Charlie Bloods customers. “Nobody’s got problems....The bartenders know them, the waitresses know them, they stop in the kitchen and say hello.”
Although his dad preferred rye, Sal didn’t have a favorite brand of booze. That’s ‘cause he didn’t drink.
Others are drinking somewhere this week, though. The sauce simmers and the sports talk spins. Just not at Charlie Bloods.
Sal Benanti leaves Karen, his wife of 53 years; their three children and spouses, Jodi Benanti-Hughes and Todd Hughes; Sally and Jason Bulger and Tracy (husband Victor Hrebeniuk died this past September), as well as grandkids Charlie Jo and Rashawn Gatling; Thomas, Terry and Tyler Hughes; Aimee, Hailey and Matthew Bulger; Madison and Derik Hrebeniuk and great-grandson Mason Gatling.
A funeral Mass is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday at at Our Lady of Mount Virgin at 188 MacArthur Avenue in Garfield, followed by a private committal service. Visiting hours are from 3-5 and 7-9 p.m. at Warner-Wozniak Funeral Service at 80 Midland Avenue in Wallington.
READ HIS OBITUARY HERE: Salvatore “Coach” Benanti
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In lieu of flowers, contributions will be used to establish an athletic scholarship in Benanti’s name to benefit a local athlete. Go to: WarnerAndWozniak.com.
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