Local legend Coach Richard Pizzolatto dies

Growing up in Crowley during the heyday of minor league ball shaped the life of Richard Pizzolatto, and his love of the game endured to the day he died.
“Coach Pizz” died suddenly Thursday morning, Dec. 16, 2021, while delivering Christmas poinsettias, something he did and enjoyed every year.
Coach Pizz was a walking encyclopedia when it came to the topic of Crowley baseball. Ask him any question about baseball in Crowley during the past 75 years and he could give you the answer along with a colorful and interesting side story.
A native of Crowley, Pizzolatto lived in the very house in which he was born. Only 12 years old when Miller Stadium was built in 1948, he felt the stadium was where he actually grew up.
As a kid, he sold peanuts in the stadium so he could watch the ball games for free. Later he was a member of the Knothole Gang, whose members paid 50 cents a year for the privilege of sitting along the third base line during the games.
In his years at Crowley High he played ball there. Later he played semi-pro ball.
After high school, Pizzolatto attended college and earned a degree in Physical Education followed by a Master’s Degree in School Administration and Supervision. After coaching in several nearby towns, Coach Pizz landed his dream job of coaching baseball at his alma mater, Crowley High.
After 24 years of coaching baseball and teaching swimming lessons to a generation of Crowley youth, he retired and became the adult recreation director with the Crowley Recreation Department.
He was happy to be there but it greatly saddened him to see his much-loved Miller Stadium looking so shabby and rickety.
Always the visionary, he approached then-Mayor Isabella de la Houssaye and the city council with plans to restore Miller Stadium and also to improve the city’s youth baseball and softball parks. His catchphrase, “Remember, it’s for the children,” was widely used in the local newspaper and rallied public support for the project.
The renovations were completed in 1998, 50 years after the stadium was built, whereupon Pizz became known as the “Godfather of Miller Stadium.” He modestly said that the restoration was the work of many people; but everyone knows that the seed was undoubtedly planted by Coach Pizz.
Although pleased with the renovations, Coach Pizz was not finished. In 2000 he organized the first Millers reunion and 75 former players and their families attended. Coach treated them to Crowley hospitality at its best, and the reunions grew and endured through 2010 when the few remaining players were too old to attend.