HOUSTON – John Altobelli, his wife Keri and teenage daughter Alyssa, are being remembered one year after their deaths in a helicopter crash that also killed NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and four others.
Orange Coast College will host an online tribute at 10 a.m. Here’s how to tune in.
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Altobelli was a former assistant coach at the University of Houston in 1987 and before that, a two-year letterwinner for the Cougars from 1984 to 1985.
Altobelli, 56, won more than 700 games at Orange Coast during his more than two decades devoted to the school’s team. The American Baseball Coaches Association named him its coach of the year last year after he guided the Pirates to their fourth state title.
The coach known as “Alto” also managed the Brewster Whitecaps for three seasons in the Cape Cod Summer League. Among the players he coached there were New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge and New York Mets infielder Jeff McNeil.
His daughter attended Ensign Intermediate School in Newport Beach, which retired her basketball jersey. She hoped to someday attend the University of Oregon, like her favorite basketball player, Sabrina Ionescu.
Altobelli is survived by a son, J.J., who is a scout with the Boston Red Sox, and a daughter, Lexi.
Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven other people died Jan. 26 when the helicopter crashed into a hillside outside Los Angeles. Also killed in the crash were Bryant friends Christina Mauser, who helped coach the girls’ team, Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton, and the helicopter pilot, Ara Zobayan.