Then again, a football field - or the inside of a gymnasium, for that matter - looks pretty much the same no matter where you are. And that’s where Ramondelli was most at home, not in city or town or country, but wherever a ball was being passed, kicked, dribbled or spiked.
More than three decades after the city slicker arrived in Dillon, Ramondelli died from an unexpected stroke on Oct. 18, the winningest volleyball coach in Montana history.
Rewerts was already at the University of Montana Western (then Western Montana College) when Ramondelli stepped off the airplane in 1974, out of the fast lane and into the rural West.
“He came straight out of the city,” Rewerts said. “Yonkers, New York. We were roomies, and teammates. I helped him carry his bags into his room.”
And there the wide-eyed Ramondelli sat stunned.
“He looked around and said, 'What have I done? You guys have cows out in the wild.’ The only cow he’d ever seen was in a petting zoo,” Rewerts said.
Ramondelli was born in New York City on Nov. 7, 1954, one of a handful in a large Italian Catholic family.
Three brothers, a sister, a dad running an inner-city trucking business - “pretty much just what you’d expect when you think of a New York Italian family,” said wife Linda.
She hails from the metropolis of Twin Bridges, but somehow the ranch girl and the city boy found one another on the Dillon campus, and married before they even graduated.
“He was always big into sports,” Linda said, an award-winning athlete playing varsity baseball, basketball and football for three years of high school before accepting a full ride to Western.
“He was the one in the family who liked to fish and get into the outdoors,” she said. “He was even a Boy Scout.”
Rich picked Dillon, she said, because it was just up the road from Yellowstone National Park, “and he figured the fishing had to be pretty good if it was that close to the park.”
“He was a great fisherman, in his own mind,” Rewerts laughed, “but he was really much better at swimming in the lake or soaking up the sun. Going fishing with 'Red’ was like going fishing with at 5-year-old - tangled line, hooks caught in the brush, you name it.”
“Red” is just one of Ramondelli’s nicknames, earned for his flaming head of hair. Rewerts and others from the Bulldogs’ team called him “Wombat,” because of his crazy eyes on the field. He earned “The Whirlwind” for his energetic, if inelegant, spins on the basketball court. But why they called him “Raul,” well, even Rewerts himself doesn’t remember.
What he does remember, however, is a kind and generous friend, a sports fan in the most fanatic sense of the word. A great coach, a fine father, the kind of guy whose quiet motto was, “Well, somebody has to do it.”
Which is why - after a short hitch in Lima and a year in Bozeman - Ramondelli found himself as the go-to guy for nearly 30 years up in the tiny town of Troy.
He coached the high school athletes, coached the little kids, formed the traveling leagues, organized the street-hoops competitions.
“Red was always the one who made it happen,” Rewerts said. “A lot of the time, he didn’t even get paid. He just did it because it needed done.”
And slowly the small town rubbed off the city shine.
“When he got here in ’74, he couldn’t sit still,” Rewerts said. “He was totally high strung, compulsive.”
But by the time he’d made Troy his true home, “he could lay out there on Bull Lake for hours, swimming off the boat and just enjoying the scenery.”
For decades Ramondelli coached, and taught history and phys ed up in Troy. His old teammate Rewerts is school principal just a few miles away, in Libby. Together, their lives centered around sports and kids.
“He influenced the lives of so many young people,” Rewerts said. “It’s hard to even imagine the impact he had.”
A few years back, Rewerts nominated his friend for the WMC hall of fame. Ramondelli, after all, had been an all-conference player, and was co-captain of the 1977 conference championship team. After graduating, he won several Coach of the Year awards, and had hundreds of wins under his belt. Conference titles, divisional titles, state championships.
But what really mattered for Ramondelli were the achievements that didn’t make headlines or halls of fame. Like his summer work with troubled kids. His community volunteer hours. His little-guy coaching. His time with his son, and his daughter, on the lake or on the court.
“With Rich, what you saw is what you got,” Rewerts said. “He was always a completely straight shooter.”
“He was never complicated,” Linda agreed. “You always knew where you stood with him.”
“He was honest,” friend Jim Dasios said. “He didn’t tell you what you wanted to hear; he told you what you needed to hear.”
A golfer, a hiker, a boater, a chatter. A beer drinker, a game watcher, an energetic doer.
“His goal was to be happy,” Rewerts said. “He wanted to enjoy life. And he was just ornery enough to be fun to be around.”
Ramondelli didn’t aspire to riches, or to material things (except that big-screen plasma TV he bought to watch the Colts play). He didn’t have an angle or an agenda.
“Red just wanted to be the best person he could be, and to bring out the best in the people around him,” Rewerts said. “Personally, I think he succeeded.”
“Genuine” is a word people use to describe Rich Ramondelli. And “real.” And “happy.”
“He was a class act,” Rewerts said. “A truly nice guy,” Linda added. “A fantastic father,” said daughter, Jeni. “Honorable,” Dasios said, and “respected,” too.
“The difference he made in this town, with the kids and the whole community, it was really remarkable,” Linda said.
“Rich Ramondelli was one of the greatest athletes and coaches Montana’s ever seen” said Dan Lucier, who played ball with Ramondelli in Dillon, and now coaches over in Superior. “But what really stands out is the fact that he was one of those people who makes you feel good, just to be around him. There’s a whole lot of us around the state who just can’t believe he’s gone.”
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Marie Errecart wrote on Nov 18, 2008 7:00 PM:
" My condolences to the Ramondelli family. Rich was coaching his daughter's volleball team while I was playing in Plains, MT. I remember him as a passionate man for the game and was full of encouragement to his athletes and to opposing atheletes. He will be dearly missed. "
Dave Cloud wrote on Nov 19, 2008 10:49 AM:
" My deepest sympathy to Linda and the Ramondelli family. I knew Rich (Red) and Linda from WMC. What genuine and pleasant people. Red was so much fun to be around. I regret that my path led to Alaska and I did not stay in touch. Montana has lost a great teacher, coach, and person.
--Dave Cloud, Homer, Alaska "
--Dave Cloud, Homer, Alaska "
Makaylin wrote on Feb 28, 2009 2:30 PM:
" Mr. Ramondelli was my volleyball coach this year for 7th grade and without him i would still suck and probaly hat it but thanks to him i love volleyball and am actually pretty good i feel bad because i never said thank you non of us did but we will always remember his red hair and his love of confetti cake ice cream he will never be forgaton "
D.J. Ramondelli wrote on Nov 18, 2008 11:50 AM:
D.J. "