By KAROLINA JURESIUTE, Senior Reporter
Have you ever met someone who is a huge sports fanatic?
You could probably say yes, but have you ever met someone who watches his favorite sports teams no matter where he is or will find a way to watch the games no matter how?
If you know Andrew Santangelo, you might just know a guy.
A couple years ago, Santangelo and the radio guy Dustin Goodno went on a trip to Searcy, Arkansas, to do a radio broadcast during the Harding-NWOSU football game.
On the way back they stopped at one of the sports bars to watch game two of the World Series because the Phillies were playing the Astros.
That’s right Santangelo is a huge Philadelphia sports fan.
They didn’t stay there for long because the sports bar didn’t have the game on. Santangelo had Goodno drive to Buffalo Wild Wings, which is another sports bar, while he was watching the game on his phone.
They arrived at the sports bar, and it did have the game on, but the table that the waiters sat them down at did not have a good angle for the TV that had the World Series game on.
So, Santangelo asked for another table to get closer to the TV and the action.
However, his Phillies team lost, and he was upset.
Santangelo and Goodno ended up staying an extra night in Arkansas and drove back home in the morning.
That made it a fun, but long trip.
Santangelo, the assistant athletic director of communications at Northwestern State University, is a guy that absolutely loves sports.
Santangelo had been in love with sports for as long as he could remember.
It has always been his life from the moment he wakes up to the moment he goes to bed.
He said his dad being a basketball coach had a lot of influence on who he is now.
He would record stats for the games for his dad’s team and that just made him fall in love with the statistics of sports.
“My passion for sports and wanting to work in athletics – having the ability to work in sports every day is a lot of fun and having the opportunity to promote the success of the student-athletes makes it a fun atmosphere each and every day to go to work,” Santangelo said.
According to his friends, Santangelo is a great worker, loyal to his job, will help everybody before himself and he works relentlessly.
“Andrew devotes so many hours to NWOSU and NWOSU athletics.” Alex Piekarski, NWOSU soccer head coach, said. “On days, especially if we have more than one home game, he’s often here for 14 hours a day. He will run from a soccer game up to a football game, volleyball game.”
Santangelo does a lot for NWOSU coaches and student-athletes, and not everyone will realize that.
He and Piekarski have a mutual interest in sports, which has bonded their friendship at NWOSU.
They became friends just when Piekarski accepted the job at NWOSU and ever since they have kept in contact with each other every day.
According to friends Santangelo cares about his job, family, friends, making sure everything and everyone is good.
Without any question, Santangelo’s parents are his role models and who influenced him the most, he said.
He has looked up to them from day one from everything they taught him on how to be as a person, work ethics etc. He said he would not even be close to where he is today if it was not for them.
“I would say he’s adventurous because it’s not easy to leave from Pennsylvania and move to Oklahoma where you don’t know many people,” Goodno, said.
Santangelo said moving from Pennsylvania to Oklahoma without knowing anyone is one of the craziest things that he ever did.
Graduating from La Salle College High School and going to Oklahoma State University with no previous ties is still wild to him sometimes when he looks back on it.
Another crazy thing that he did was eventually going home to move back to Oklahoma without visiting Alva or NWOSU before accepting the job.
Santangelo has a lot of great qualities and not many weaknesses.
“Courteous – Andrew is definitely one of the kindest people that I have come across.” Goodno said, “I feel like he would do anything for just about anybody.”
Santangelo does not have a lot of fears, but failure is always a concern he said.
Having to work in the communication side of things can get stressful, because he always wants to give his best to the fans on social media.
For him, it is important to always stay on top of things and triple check everything. Having to promote to an audience, he wants to do the best he can to promote the athletic side of the university at a high level, he said.
Santangelo will do anything he can for anybody. He goes over to his church and helps out with technology. He’s always willing to help somebody out.
“He is willing to go above and beyond for everybody,” Keith Wear, athletic trainer at NWOSU. “He’s the first one to be at the sporting event making sure that everything is set up and ready to go.”
One thing that would be surprising to know about Santangelo is that he sees movies at the theater fairly consistently, but he does not watch any movies outside the movie theater.
When his friends try to quote something from some movie, he does not know what movie it is from unless he went to watch it at the theater with the friends.
“I think what I most admire about Andrew is his loyalty,” said, Jon Bingesser, the volleyball head coach at NWOSU. “And the fact that I always joke about him that he is pure of heart because he is such a good human being and nice genuine person, and those aspects are my favorite about him.”
Anytime Bingesser needed any assistance at NWOSU or even outside of it, Santangelo is the first person he calls.
Just the other day he gave Bingesser a ride to pick up his car from the tire shop, and he also volunteers to feed Bingesser’s pet when he is out of town recruiting.
Santangelo is one of the people that you can rely on and is dependable, Bingesser said.
Santangelo’s one weakness is that he will drop whatever he is doing, no matter how important it is, to help somebody with whatever, no matter how unimportant it is.
He has been successful in his life and one of his greatest accomplishments is being where he is today, he said.
Having accepted the role as an assistant athletic director right after graduating with his master’s degree in adult education – sports administration at NWOSU is a big accomplishment, he said.
This was especially big for him after struggling to find a job for so long after graduating with his bachelor’s degree in sports management at Oklahoma State University.
“Honestly, [I] would not change anything,” Santangelo said, “everything happens for a reason and is who and where I am today. Of course I have wondered how different choices might have changed my life. For example, if I never transferred high schools, or if I did not go to school at Oklahoma State, but I do not regret any of that, and that is why I am here today – from those choices and finding success and great people.”
He still has a lot to accomplish, he said.
Being a strong family person growing up with four siblings, it would be nice to be able to raise a family of himself.
He also has a goal of visiting every MLB stadium one day so that would be a big accomplishment on his bucket list as well.
Santangelo’s hobbies are mainly sports.
If you were to ask anyone, all his family and friends know that even after working in sports all day, when he gets home, sports will be on the TV or somewhere near him. Another thing he enjoys is reading, especially Stephen King.
Santangelo has over 70 different baseball hats. You will never see him without a hat.
“Every choice leads to a certain path,” Santangelo said, “and in the choices and decisions thrown at me, this is what I chose.”
