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New York Post sports writers share their memories of Post photographer Anthony J. Causi, who died at age 48 on Sunday because of the coronavirus. Marc Berman Carmelo Anthony had gone dark the summer of 2014 after the Knicks missed the playoffs for the first time since 2009-10. I got a tip Melo had arranged …
New York Post sports writers share their memories of Post photographer Anthony J. Causi, who died at age 48 on Sunday because of the coronavirus.
Marc Berman
Carmelo Anthony had gone dark the summer of 2014 after the Knicks missed the playoffs for the first time since 2009-10.
I got a tip Melo had arranged an 11 a.m. pickup game at a midtown gym on Aug. 14 with a bunch of NBAers, including Knicks teammates J.R. Smith and Cleanthony Early plus Kemba Walker, Lance Stephenson and former Knick David Lee.
Of course, our Anthony Causi was not going to take any chances. Causi showed up at 8 a.m., on the sidewalk in front of the Manhattan gym, emailing me: “Where are you?”
I was heading out on summer vacation, but responded that our reporter would be there closer to 11. I told Causi to have a nice little breakfast on The Post while waiting for Melo’s guys to show.
Causi responded: “I’m a grunt. I don’t do nice little breakfasts.’’
Causi waited that whole time on the sidewalk before Anthony and his guys showed up more than three hours later — and, of course, he got his exclusive shots.
Mark Cannizzaro
I loved being on the road with Anthony on assignment. Two things were guaranteed: There would be laughs … and good meals.
My favorite times came when the Jets were training in 2009 and 2010 in Cortland, N.Y., which is 25 minutes away from Ithaca, where I went to college. I immediately scouted out some good food spots in Ithaca and we landed at Maxie’s Supper Club and Oyster Bar, a cool place with great food, friendly staff, good music and a laid-back vibe.
It became an instant favorite of ours. That one night turned into two and then three and before you knew it, thanks in large part to Anthony’s warm, larger-than-life personality, we were friends with the bartenders and the owner. We went back multiple times in 2009 and again 2010, and almost every time I saw Anthony, we would reminisce about Maxie’s, rave about the food and wonder if the place was still surviving and thriving.
Maxie’s is still open, and I wish so much that I could take Anthony back there this summer.
Ken Davidoff
I can’t help but wonder whether Anthony Causi ever felt, in his 48-plus years inhabiting this planet, like a fish out of water.
Because I saw this Brooklyn kid navigate an animal-filled ranch in the middle of rural Florida, bossing around its millionaire Cuban owner, as if he had spent his entire life there.
Anthony had convinced Mets outfielder Yoenis Cespedes to let us come to his home in Vero Beach and write a story on him, quite a feat in and of itself. Even better, the often-tricky Cespedes embraced our visit, dressing up in cowboy gear for the occasion, proudly showing off the property and posing all over the 88 acres, acceding to each of Anthony’s requests.
His comfort level with any situation, with any person, played a huge role in Anthony’s success, I believe. If only Anthony had been with Cespedes the day he encountered that unruly wild boar …
Kevin Kernan
Never forget Anthony Causi had a genius for capturing a personality in the perfect picture.
I saw it daily in Port St. Lucie. Whether he had to spread out on the outfield grass on a back field to catch the right light to highlight the rippling muscles of Noah Syndergaard in full sprint or wait hours at a Starbucks for new Mets manager Luis Rojas, a week before spring training opened. Rojas was delayed for the interview because he had to take his wife to the doctor.
When it was finally time to shoot the brilliant picture that became The Post back page the next day, Anthony positioned the manager in the drive-thru lane at Starbucks along the fence. The finished product looked like it had been staged at some immaculate park grounds, not a place of dashing cars and coffee grounds.
George A. King III
Following Hideki Matsui’s first year with the Yankees in 2013, The Post sent Anthony Causi, Charles Wenzelberg and I to Tokyo for a story on the outfielder away from the ballpark.
On the first day, Charles and Anthony wanted to scout places to photograph Matsui. Knowing very little of the language and not having an interpreter should have been a challenge.
But we had Anthony, whose smile said so much more than words. Walking the streets near temples, Anthony saw groups of people taking pictures of each other. With his camera around his neck, Anthony approached the person taking the picture and said, “I take the picture.’’
I don’t know if those folks understood or not but the camera went from an amateur photographer into the hands of one half of the premier sports-photographer teams in America. The person who gave Anthony the camera joined the group, Anthony took the picture and we moved on.
That smile shattered language barriers while doing what he loved: taking pictures and mingling with people.
Howie Kussoy
One of the biggest fights in years was guaranteed to be a letdown. It couldn’t match what Causi and I experienced two nights before Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor met in the ring.
That week, Mayweather frequented the gentlemen’s club he owns in Las Vegas — and we were assigned to crash the party.
First, we snuck into Mayweather’s star-studded training session, where Causi seemed like the host. He introduced me to actor Michael Rapaport. He chatted up singer Demi Lovato. He helped with my reporting, when he didn’t need to.
When Mayweather exited the gym, he spotted Causi and stopped, recognizing his face from numerous fights. The champ excitedly told Causi, “You gotta come to the club.” There — amid a real-life rap video — Mayweather posed however Causi requested, comfortable taking direction from the photographer he barely knew, yet completely trusted.
We left the club after the sun came up. I went to write. He went to file photos. We slept. We grabbed a steak. We played blackjack. We laughed about the journey our jobs took us on.
For so long, Causi would always say, “We gotta go back to Vegas. That was the best.” But for the past 16 months, our conversations almost entirely revolved around our kids, with our young daughters born months apart. He always had to show the most recent photo. He always had to share the most recent tale. He always asked to see the latest picture of my daughter, too. Always.
Paul Schwartz
“Shockey’s tattoos.’’
That was my response every time the past several years, whenever Anthony Causi was assigned to the Giants and asked me what he should look out for that day.
Jeremy Shockey left the Giants after the 2007 season, but the little joke just kept rolling along.
Late in Shockey’s stay with the Giants, he often was irascible and almost impossible to deal with, from a media standpoint. Nobody could get through to him, except for Anthony. They bonded over some photos Anthony took of Shockey’s many tattoos. So, long after Shockey left the Giants, I always reminded Anthony to be on the lookout for Shockey’s tattoos and it always made him smile.
Anthony loved to share the gift of his immense talent. I was in the Giants field house last training camp speaking one-on-one with Saquon Barkley. Anthony told us to pose for a picture — something I never do with the players I cover. But you do not say no to the force of nature that was Anthony Causi. Saquon knew the deal as well and cheerfully put his right hand on my left shoulder, smiling broadly. It is a cool shot and I will cherish it always — because Anthony Causi took it.
Steve Serby
Anthony and I flew out to Houston after Andy Pettitte had left the Yankees to sign with the Astros. We rented a car and drove unannounced to Pettitte’s house. His wife, Laura, let us in and Andy was gracious enough to sit for a brief interview and countless shots from Anthony.
It was close to Christmas, and the Pettittes had a party to attend. Because Anthony is Anthony, because he was obviously seeking the perfect photo, he asked Pettitte if we could come back the next day. But Pettitte wasn’t going to be available, so Anthony and I headed back to the airport to fly home. One and done. A long day, but Anthony always made the hours fly by.
I loved every minute working with him. On every assignment. A pro’s pro, and one hell of a human being. Man, I wish I didn’t have to write this.
Joel Sherman
We are blessed at The Post to have a baseball group that has been together for a long time, forming something akin to a family. Anthony Causi was part of that family.
He was human fun. He lived to make others happy. He was kind. An example of his kindness: In spring 2019, three of my oldest friends (40-plus years) visited me at Mets camp. We were on the grass beyond the center-field fence and I received a text — a picture of the four of us. Anthony had used a zoom lens between innings to shoot us. That was familiar.
You would never know Anthony was shooting you and, ping, a text or email would pop up with a photo. I mentioned my appreciation and that one of the people pictured was Hale Halasy, whose dad, Don, had been a legendary Post photographer. Anthony was overjoyed and insisted we come down for better group shots. He said we would want them in the future. He was right.
The pictures have always been meaningful because of the long friendships, but are more so than ever now, unfortunately, with Anthony’s passing. The world is worse when we lose a good person. So the world is a little worse with The Post losing a family member.
George Willis
“See you tomorrow at Media day. Im going to do everything I can to get McGregor alone to do a portrait away from the media.”
That’s the text Anthony Causi sent me that January morning in Las Vegas. Conor McGregor was holding his media day ahead of his UFC fight with Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, and Anthony, as always, was looking for the exclusive. I’m thinking it’s a long shot, but sure enough once the media scrum was over the UFC guys are grabbing Anthony and myself and taking us behind the curtain into the studio arena at their facility outside Vegas.
Not sure if McGregor is going to show, Anthony needs to check his lighting and tells me to hold up my fists. I give it a good effort as Anthony clicks away. One minute later, McGregor comes walking in as polite as he can be. Anthony does his thing getting the champ into various poses. It was the best pic of the week.
He shot everything for our sports department, but we connected over boxing and MMA. He always wanted to know when, where and what I was covering. It was a privilege to work with him on some of the biggest events in recent years. RIP my friend. #gonetoosoon
Editor’s note: A GoFundMe account has been set up for the Causi family in the wake of Anthony’s passing. Please find it here.
