Black Rock legend dies at 62

BRIDGEPORT — In some ways he was the unofficial mayor of Black Rock.

His office was Beverly Pizza, where he spent 46 years working for Chris Katsetos, then his son, Eli Katsetos.

On March 3, Michael “Dickie” Sosnowski, 62, died after suffering a heart attack in a Massachusetts hotel room after attending a Jimmy Buffet Parrot Head Convention. A memorial service is scheduled for Saturday at 11 a.m. in St. Ann’s Church.

“My guess is the service could be standing-roomonly,” said Danny Roach, the manager of the Black Rock bar Matty’s Corner, and who once roomed with Sosnowski. “This is a very big deal in Black Rock for someone who never held office.”

“Black Rock lost a legend,” added former state Rep. Bob Keeley. “There’s no one in Black Rock that doesn’t know of Dickie.”

The legend began decades ago on the basketball courts. Keeley and Roach recall the role Sosnowski played during St. Ann’s 1970 championship season.

“You know how he got the nickname Dickie?” asked Keeley, a North Ender who played for Assumption school. “His shot reminded people of the New York Knicks’ Dickie Barnett. He had the same form with the legs kicking back when he shot a jumper.”

And if basketball was Sosnowski’s forte, the Beverly was his life. At 16 he ditched his paper route and accepted a job offer from Chris Katsetos. He never left.

“I’m devastated,” Katsetos said. “He was my best friend, like a son to me. We were here every day together. It can never be the same.”

After work Roach recalled how Sosnowski would sometimes show up at the Norden Club.

“You could smell the pizza all over him,” he said. “One guy said it made him so hungry he asked if he could take a bite out of his arm.”

Still, the questions is why someone who was not an owner stay in a pizza parlor for 46 years.

“He felt comfortable there,” said Keeley, “not like me, running for my job every two years. ... And anyone wanting to see Dickie knew where to go. You’d find people visiting from Florida or California going there to see him. I’ll bet every second or third person in line knew him.”