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New York Post chief photographer Charles Wenzelberg worked with Anthony J. Causi for more than two decades. He shares his thoughts on his friend, who lost his battle with coronavirus on Sunday. As told to Steve Serby: Anthony was my best friend. I’ve lost my parents, I’ve lost other relatives, I’ve lost other friends — …
New York Post chief photographer Charles Wenzelberg worked with Anthony J. Causi for more than two decades. He shares his thoughts on his friend, who lost his battle with coronavirus on Sunday. As told to Steve Serby:
Anthony was my best friend. I’ve lost my parents, I’ve lost other relatives, I’ve lost other friends — and this one has hit me the hardest.
I just can’t comprehend this.
I worked with Anthony literally for 25, 26 years every day five days a week. I’ve been on the road with him, I’ve been all over the world with him. Two boys from Brooklyn living our dream together. We clicked immediately. He was a hungry young guy like myself when we met, when he was a messenger bringing film back to the office.
When he was in the hospital, we sometimes FaceTimed twice a day, and it was so heartbreaking. I knew he was in a lot of pain. He said he had a 104 fever and his head hurt, he was having trouble breathing, and he was saying he was scared, he was worried for his family.
He was like, “Make sure my family’s taken care of.” I’m like, “Anthony, you’re gonna get better.”
He said, “I don’t know. I feel like I’m dying. But I’m so worried for my family.”
I’d be broken up when I’d hang up the phone.
When my kid (Benjy, now 20) was growing up, he was incredibly gracious, always asked how my son was, the whole thing.
And when he finally met Romina, he fell in love and he was like, “This is the girl.” He was on a high. He wanted to start a family, and he finally found a soulmate to share his life with.
His wedding was at the Glen Island Harbor Club in New Rochelle. It was one for the ages. First of all, there was more food than you can possibly eat. There was never a time there weren’t people dancing, where he wasn’t out there dancing and laughing with people. If they made a movie about the greatest wedding ever, this one would have probably been right up there.
And when his son (John, 5) was born, I’ve never met anyone so happy, his whole life changed, his whole outlook on life. He couldn’t contain his excitement and his love for his child. When his second child (Mia, 2) was born, again, he finally felt like he found his calling. He couldn’t be happier. He would share pictures and videos with me.
Every parent is like that, but he was a NUT about it, he just was out-of-his-mind crazy for his children, and all he would talk about all the time was how much he worried that he wanted to make sure he was being a good father to them.
I traveled to Cleveland with Anthony once for a Yankees playoff series. We come out of the hotel, and this guy and this girl are having this really bad argument, and it looks like the guy’s about to hit her. He stopped and said to the girl, “Are you OK?” And the guy says, “It’s none of your f—ing business.” And Anthony says, “If you hit her, I am gonna hit you.” It stayed like that for a few minutes until it calmed down and the girl said, “I’m fine,” and we went on our way.
I’m like, “Are you crazy?” He’s like, “Listen, I got two younger sisters, I can’t watch something like that.”
We went to Minnesota for a Yankee playoff game. He was shooting at that point. And in the room, where they had us working, they had one of the mascot costumes. Next thing I know, he’s got the mascot costume on top of his head, and he’s running in the photo room as one of the mascots.
He made life fun. He made life light. He took the edge off. When things got too serious, he was like, “Listen, let’s keep it in perspective. We love what we do here, let’s remember that. We could be doing other stuff that we don’t love.”
There wasn’t a time when he was at the stadium where people didn’t look forward to seeing him or being around him. And the irony is that even with the levity, he would outshoot everyone. He was pretty amazing at that.
The athletes trusted him. He doesn’t talk to them about their stats. There was a time in the Giant locker room, Jeremy Shockey was surrounded by a bunch of reporters asking questions during the weekly availability. And he said in the middle of this crowded room of reporters, “You know what? I don’t trust any of you. The only one I trust is this guy here Anthony.”
Anthony has the ability to meet somebody, and within five minutes, the person he meets will never forget him for the rest of their life. An uncanny ability to immediately connect with people. And for a big guy, he was the most welcoming person, and somebody who made somebody else feel so comfortable, and he was totally real. He was never full of bull—t.’ He called a spade a spade. It’s from his upbringing, it’s from his parents, it’s from the love that they gave him.
He was really good friends with Pedro Martinez when Pedro became a Met. He got close with Mariano Rivera. He got friendly with Yoenis Cespedes.
But his favorite athlete, if I had to say there’s one guy he really loved, had a man crush on was Derek Jeter. To him, he grew up a Yankee fan. He admired the way he went about his business. Jeter was always gracious to Anthony … they had a lot of respect for him.
His iconic shot of Mariano running in from the bullpen against the Red Sox in 2006 was something only Anthony could have pulled off.
Honestly, I have no idea how he got through security to get out to the bullpen. Then get out to the bullpen, when Mariano literally walked onto the warning track, and get this amazing picture of Mariano Rivera. To get that picture, you would have to go through a layer of security and a layer of Yankee politics. He got this iconic picture that was used everywhere.
He was more of an artist than a journalist in my opinion. He paints a beautiful picture with his camera. His perseverance, his tenacity — he worked his way up to one of the best sports photographers in New York, possibly the world. His work speaks for itself. He always looked for the unusual angle, and that’s all from hard work and his determination and his drive. No one handed him anything.
I got the incomprehensible news by phone from a family friend around 8:30 Sunday night.
You can’t prepare yourself for it. I physically got ill. My stomach just churned, and my heart broke. I started thinking about his family. I started thinking about how he had so much more to do, and how his life was just beginning starting a family. He was 48, but he was full of life. Wildly full of life.
His wife was a rock, a true rock, through it all. My heart breaks when I think about his family.
There’s gonna be a hole for a long time in the sports photography world in New York.
And forever in my heart.
Editor’s note: A GoFundMe account has been set up for the Causi family in wake of Anthony’s passing.
