On a night when he was inducted into the Rutgers University Athletics Hall of Fame, former St. Joseph High School baseball star Doug Alongi selflessly turned his amazing speech, which made attendees both laugh and cry, into a poignant tribute to Marisa Tufaro and late former college teammate Albert “Albie” Mallen.
Alongi arranged – and the state university graciously obliged – to present home and away No. 30 (Albie’s number) game jerseys to Mallen’s young sons, Ryan and Gavin.
The video slideshow that accompanied Alongi on stage during the ceremony – usually reserved for family photos and other pictures that chronicle an inductee’s career – included a photo of Albie flanked by his boys and a picture of Marisa wearing a San Antonio Missions baseball cap.
Attendees were able to understand those pictures in context when Doug fondly recalled Albie and subsequently shifted his attention to Marisa and the foundation established in her name. Marisa’s father, Greg, who also graduated from St. Joseph, and Alongi are longtime friends.
Alongi was inducted along with former St. Joseph High School assistant lacrosse coach John Howland (men’s lacrosse), Carli Lloyd (women’s soccer), Edward Allan Scharer (wrestling) and Catherine Whetstone-Battoni (women’s swimming) during the annual Rutgers Athletics Hall of Fame dinner on Oct. 19 at the East Brunswick Hilton. The quintet was honored during halftime of the Scarlet Knights’ Oct. 20 homecoming football game against Northwestern at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway.
Alongi’s high school coach, Brian Schnepf, and several of his former St. Joseph teammates attended the Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Former St. Joseph lacrosse star Reid Jackson, a 2004 Rutgers University Athletics Hall of Fame inductee, was also in attendance. Jackson and Alongi formed the starting backcourt of St. Joseph’s basketball team when the two were teammates in high school. Jackson is Howland’s nephew.
Doug addressed his own three beautiful daughters in eloquent closing remarks, reiterating a message they must certainly already understand, for the Alongi girls, through their school district, conducted a wildly successful gift card drive last fall for pediatric patients in Marisa’s honor and on behalf of The Marisa Tufaro Foundation.
“Remember girls,” Doug said, putting his Hall of Fame induction in perspective, “success in life should be measured by the relationships you forge with friends and loved ones and continue to maintain throughout the course of your life, and also helping those that are less fortunate than you.”
The Marisa Tufaro Foundation congratulates Doug on his Rutgers University Athletics Hall of Fame selection and thanks him for selflessly allowing the spotlight from his own induction ceremony to shine on Marisa and the nonprofit bearing her name.