Above: Lou Romanoli and his Brooks Armored Car team regularly drew thousands to watch them play at 18th and Van Buren streets in Wilmington. Photo courtesy DSHOF.
By Chuck Durante
In the 1950s, he was a centerpiece of University of Delaware’s first great baseball team. In the 1960s, he brought big-name athletes to Wilmington to win championships in the city’s golden age of community sports. In the 1970s, as he watched his three children lead Friends School to championships, he embarked on a road-running career where he became a pacesetter. When his legs called time out, he became a serious cyclist.
A three-sport athlete at Wilmington High from Union Park Gardens, Romanoli was a pitcher, shortstop and third baseman for the 18-3 Blue Hen team that made the 1956 NCAA tournament in Tubby Raymond’s first year as coach. He continued after graduation in the Wilmington Semi-Pro League, which he eventually took over by assembling a Brooks Armored Car team in 1963 with five former major leaguers plus Ruly Carpenter to win the title, while regularly drawing 4,000 spectators to 18th and Van Buren.
That same year, he captained Brooks champions in the Industrial Basketball League and the Wilmington Football League, where he quarterbacked his team to three titles in five years. Hired in 1967 as general manager of the Wilmington Blue Bombers, he built the Eastern Basketball League champions with future NBA and ABA players, several of whom put down lifelong roots in Delaware.
In 1966, he branched into running. Over 30 years, he annually logged 3,000 miles, completed the 1980 Boston Marathon, and ran the Caesar Rodney Half Marathon a record 25 consecutive years, while managing one of Wilmington’s leading printing businesses with his uncle Remo, until double knee replacement surgery turned him into a dedicated cyclist. Into the pandemic, he logged up to 180 miles a week on his bike.
Perpetually vital at 90, fresh from his 57th extended summer visit to Italy, he annually reserves a restaurant where he hosts more than 100 friends for the NCAA men’s championship.
— Founded in 1976, the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame is located on the Wilmington Riverfront at 801 Shipyard Drive on the first base side of Frawley Stadium. Sports fans can tour the museum for free each Saturday from 10am to 1pm and for two hours before every Blue Rocks home game.
