Frank Calvarese, who held the position of head starter at the NYRA tracks from 1984 through 1993, passed away Thursday at his home in West Palm Beach, Florida. He was 96.
He died of heart failure.
“He was a great horseman and a great man,” said his wife, Lisa. “He was ill for about a month, but during the last year he had been on the decline. But he looked so young. He looked great. He still had his black hair and he grew a goatee. He even looked great in death.”
Calvarese began his work in racing in 1955 as a member of the gate crew at Delaware Park. He also worked eight years for trainers Bill Mitchell and Ed Christmas before joining George Cassidy's NYRA starting crew.
He was promoted to the head job in 1984.
When he was an assistant starter, Calvarese was so respected by trainers that many insisted that he handle their top horses, a list that included Secretariat and Ruffian.
“He handled Secretariat and was very good friends with so many trainers like Frank Martin and Allen Jerkens,” Lisa Calvarese said. “He was there when Ruffian broke down. He was the first to get to her.”
Upon his retirement, Calvarese was succeeded by Bob Duncan, who considers him a mentor.
“As an assistant starter, he handled Secretariat, every time he ran in New York,” Duncan said. “He was basically the lead man, the go-to guy all the time as an assistant starter. He also mentored me, dragged me along to be an adult. 'You've got to carry yourself a certain way,' he'd say. He took a place that my father wasn't able to do at times and made a big difference in my life. I started working there part time in '67 and 68 , and worked under Frank as an assistant, and became his first assistant when he took over the head job. He was very dry and very serious about a lot of things, but also had a mischievous part to him. He was a straight shooter, and the best assistant starter anybody ever knew. He mentored me, and I was lucky to have him.”
In addition to his wife, Calvarese is survived by two children, his daughter Mickie and his son Russell.
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