Monday, July 13, 2020
I didn't think the year 2020 could get worse. But it has. My good friend and League stalwart Angelo Vasiento passed away Sunday morning after suffering a heart attack. He was just shy of 55 years old. As is the case with many of you, Angie and I go way back. I don't have the exact year, but it was sometime in the mid-80's when he began playing fantasy baseball with us. Football soon followed and he played in every league I ran.
News of his passing got me thinking back to the old days when we did all of our fantasy football business by phone. I got to know many of my team owners well over those early years but none better than Angelo. For many years we would get together in NYC for dinner and drinks and often a ball game. Born and raised in Brooklyn he was the quintessential Italian New Yorker, loud and opinionated with a joke for every occasion. He was a lot of fun to be around.
But as is often the case, life goes up and down and Angelo had more downs then he deserved. The September 11 attacks which cost the lives of so many members of his Wall St community, the crash of 2008 which wiped out a lucrative career, and finally health issue after health issue. As you would expect, these things took their toll. I only saw Angelo once or twice in the last 10 years or so, but we made sure to talk frequently. While his taste for the social life may have ebbed a bit, his passion for fantasy football may have actually increased. And we know how bright that passion burned. When it came to fantasy football Angelo was a risk-taker like few I've competed with in my 35+ years of playing. Blockbuster deals involving the biggest names in the game were routine for him. He was a fearless trader. Angelo was a foundational member of fantasy leagues that have stayed together for decades. And I know that he had begun partnering with his son Charlie in fantasy sports and was really enjoying that connection.
Perhaps the saddest aspect of his passing is that he had recently begun to write a new chapter down here in Florida with a new career. Things were going great. Business was booming and of course he was working his butt off. He loved Ft Lauderdale. Like all of us he was really hopeful that there will be football this year and eager to see how his teams would do..
Angelo leaves behind wife Brenda, son Charlie and daughter Felicia, both in their twenties. I will miss him terribly.
Angelo Robert Vasiento III
July 29, 1965-July 4, 2020
R.I.P.
