Help Suppport a Great Family

Two years ago almost to the day Friends of Coach D gathered together to support Steve and his family in his fight against pancreatic cancer. Steve fought a long but worthy fight and unfortunately fell to the disease in October. We are asking once again for your support in order to help Nadia and the boys through this very difficult time. Please offer your help.

Family came first for Steve DiGregorio, and that is a reality that could never be refuted or altered. But living outside his beloved and unbreakable circle – whether as a teammate, student, colleague or even opponent of Steve’s – was still to reside in a rather exclusive neighborhood. Because to associate with Steve on any of those levels was to know you were valued by one of the more intelligent, well-rounded, decent and supportive human beings you could ever be fortunate enough to encounter.

As a youngster growing up in Nutley, Steve’s moral guideposts were his adoptive parents, Sylvio and Rosemary, whom Steve once called “the two most beautiful people in the world. If you couldn’t figure out what the right thing to do was, they told you, and you did it.” Later in life, Steve’s most enduring source of inspiration in his life was middle son, Derek, who has battled the debilitating effects of Ataxia Telangiectasia for the past 12 years with remarkable courage, resilience and soaring spirit.

“Derek is indomitable. He’s my idol. He’s the toughest human being I’ve ever been around,” Steve said just 10 months before his death after his own bravely defiant fight against pancreatic cancer.

Family first. Family last. And in between was a noble, tough-minded and insatiably curious life as a stellar student-athlete at Nutley High and Muhlenberg College, a revered coach and educator, a formidable foe in between the white lines, and a trusted, reliable friend in between, on and way outside those lines.

Care to catalogue Steve’s strong-as-steel friendships? Follow the arc of his career, and they can be found in generous huddles at all levels. As a player at Nutley and Muhlenberg, an assistant coach at Hobart College, Allegheny College, Princeton University or even Princeton High to be closer to his and wife Nadia’s other two sons, Zack and Aaron, while they played there. Or as a head coach at Paramus Catholic and Nutley.

As a player and coach, Steve prepared for upcoming games with an eye out for an opponent’s weaknesses, but also with a frank understanding of his own shortcomings. If that opponent was particularly formidable, Steve was never fearful or intimidated; he was intrigued and stimulated. All-state running back? Difficult exam? Cancer? No matter what stood against him, it was going to challenged by the very best of Steve.

Steve won with humility and he lost with dignity. And he considered the opportunity to strive for those victories week after week each autumn a blessing.

As friends of Coach DiGregorio we are asking for your support in order to help his family through this very difficult time.

Thank you

Friends of Coach D