Fairfield to retire Capalbo’s No. 30
As we near 10 months since local hockey hero Charlie Capalbo died in his fourth fight with cancer in five years, his mom, Jenny, wonders if he really knew how much of an impact he made.
“He was somewhat aware, but he spent so much time in isolation,” Jenny said by phone earlier this week. “I don’t know if he ever fully understood the full support.”
One more night of support in an ongoing chain comes from his former high school team on Saturday night at the Wonderland of Ice.
Fairfield’s co-op team will retire the No. 30 that Charlie wore, and that his younger brother, Will, who donated bone marrow to his brother three times, wore.
“Retiring his number, that’s huge. He’d be blown away,” Jenny said. “I don’t know if he’d even understand how inspirational he was, how beloved he was.
“We think about how lucky we are — lucky in that way, but unlucky. They coexist, two opposite emotions at the same time.”
Charlie died April 24, 2022.
“There are constant highs and lows. You’re sad and happy all at the same time,” Charlie’s father,
Anthony, said. “It’s surreal, disbelief, but you still, still manage to find the beauty in the way the community continues to honor him.”
Friends and family and local businesses donated to take care of Charlie’s services.
“They donated so much, it’s pretty unbelievable,” Jenny said. “They felt we shouldn’t have to pay. Not everyone gets that. Some people go through loss and still have to pay. Friends, family, people we don’t even know. People offered their vacation houses.”
The meals keep coming. People are still putting Sticks Out for Charlie.
Jenny said that one family bought a house using Anthony as their agent and are planning to build
a hockey stick into their house.
Sacred Heart, Fairfield, teams on their own from those schools and others. A walk for the Jimmy Fund that raised $142,000. All sorts of grassroots efforts. People still post in the Facebook group that united the community, talking about drawing inspiration from Charlie. They’ll visit Charlie’s grave at Oak Lawn Cemetery and find friends they didn’t know visited.
“Or we’ll find things left there,” Anthony said.
The day after Charlie died, a Norwalk graffiti artist who goes by 5ivefingaz on Instagram said many people had sent him Charlie’s story. In the attached video, he painted a stunning black-and-white version of the iconic Capalbo Strong image.
If you’ve followed the Capalbo story, you know the photo: Charlie, mask raised to the top of his head, looking over his right shoulder with a mouth-agape smile.
The family got the painting, done on delicate paper. The dad of a former teammate got it framed. “About three feet by five feet,” Anthony said, it had been sitting in the Capalbo living room.
Now, it hangs at Wonderland, on the wall at the end of the rink near the door to the Fairfield dressing room. A curtain covers it for now, but it’ll be unveiled Saturday night.
Fairfield plays Greenwich — where Anthony grew up — Saturday at 8. Fairfield Prep meets Notre Dame-West Haven at 4, with a JV game between the two varsity games. There are Capalbo ties all over the four teams, as there are in so many places around the community. Current coop families and Fairfield Prep families have been unbelievable, Jenny said.
“We just want people to know how appreciative we are,” Anthony said. “We want people to feel like we feel, if that makes sense, to appreciate the love in the entire community.”