A former MLB pitcher who later became a Port Authority police officer was tragically slain earlier this week while travelling to the 9/11 memorial service. Family and friends gathered on Staten Island to bid farewell to him.
At his burial on Thursday at the Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Tompkinsville, 37-year-old Anthony Varvaro was accorded the guard of honour as a sea of blue uniforms extended down the street for him. Internment then took place at St. Peter’s Cemetery.
The Staten Island native left baseball in 2016 to work for the Port Authority in New York and New Jersey as a police officer. He played in the major leagues for six seasons, four of which he spent with the Atlanta Braves.
Varvaro was killed in the collision on the New Jersey Turnpike on Sunday, leaving behind a mourning family that included his wife and four kids as well as a community that described him as “everything you could want in a person.”
Varvaro was killed in a head-on collision with a wrong-way vehicle on Sunday at Exit 14C on the New Jersey Turnpike in Jersey City, not far from the Holland Tunnel.
He was travelling to the World Trade Center Command for the yearly September 11th remembrance.
According to police, Henry Plazas, 30, of Bridgewater, New Jersey, hit Varvaro’s automobile head-on while driving west in the eastbound lanes.
Both of the drivers perished.
There are four little children and his wife Kerry Varvaro left behind by Varvaro.
The sad widow clutched their eldest kid close as she sobbed and watched as her husband’s coffin went by during the burial on Friday.
To commemorate him Varvaro, hundreds of police officers lined Victory Boulevard outside Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Thompkinsville.
According to Edward Cetnar of the Port Authority Police Department, “Today, we’re commemorating one of our heroes.” Anthony had an amazing life.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, wakes for Varvaro were conducted, and a large number of family members and friends attended.
Varvaro attended Curtis High School and St. John’s University while growing up on Staten Island. The Seattle Mariners selected him in the 2005 draught.
Mike Hampton, the head baseball coach at St. John’s, said he was speechless at Varvaro’s passing.
Hampton, who worked as Varvaro’s assistant coach at St. John’s for all three of his seasons there, said of Varvaro, “He was everything you could want in a person, not just everything you could want out of a ball player.” My thoughts are with his family, friends, colleagues, and fellow law enforcement personnel.
Varvaro played professionally after college for the Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves, and Seattle Mariners until retiring in June 2016 to join the Port Authority police force.
After the fatal collision, Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole and Executive Director Rick Cotton released a statement saying, “On this solemn occasion as the Port Authority mourns the loss of 84 employees in the attacks on the World Trade Center – including 37 members of the Port Authority Police Department – our grief only deepens today with the passing of Officer Varvaro.”
We convey Officer Varvaro’s [family] our sincere condolences on behalf of the whole agency.
Staten Island newspaper According to SILive, Varvaro was a stalwart of the neighbourhood and was appointed president of the North Shore Snug Harbor Little League in 2021.
He is said to have advocated for league facility upgrades, including nighttime lighting for games.
The community will benefit from this, Varvaro said at the time. And it will provide these children with greater opportunities. For the young players in this minor league, the future is literally bright.
John Eberlein, a family friend and Varvaro’s coach at Curtis High School, told SILive, “It’s a tragedy.” He wasn’t only a good baseball player; he was also a better guy.
He always wanted to be a police officer. He had a strategy.