Joe Riverso: May 6, 1967 – September 11, 2001
When Mike O’Donnell and Joe Riverso first began their two decades in the Stepinac football program together, O’Donnell was an assistant coach and Riverso was a two-way lineman. O’Donnell knew immediately he had himself a ballplayer. A big, strong kid with surprising coordination and agility, Riverso had the football smarts to match his athleticism.
“He was one of those guys who was just tough as nails,” O’Donnell recalls. “If Joe was injured or anything else he wouldn’t go to a doctor. He wouldn’t tell his mother.”
Helping to lead the Crusaders to the division championship in 1985, Riverso earned All-League and All-County honors. He graduated that year but was soon back with the team as an assistant coach. When O’Donnell was named head coach in 1988, he chose Riverso to be his defensive coordinator.
“He loved everything about our school,” said O’Donnell. “It’s very easy to see why we would get along so well.”
A finance major at Iona College in New Rochelle, Riverso began working at Sports Page Pub, then on Mamaroneck Avenue, while he was in school. He started out as a parking attendant but with his personable demeanor and knack for hard work, owner Bob Hyland soon had him behind the bar.
“He was a very, very popular guy,” Hyland said. “I don’t think he ever had a cross day in his life.”
Loathing having too much free time on his hands, Riverso put his propensity for hard work to many uses. Whether it was bartending, coaching, caddying or running a deli, he was known for always having a lot on his plate.
“He was a hustler. Joe always had three jobs, always juggling all types of things to make an extra buck,” O’Donnell said. “He could sleep two hours a day and just keep going.”
Riverso had a reason he worked such long hours and rarely turned down the chance to make a few bucks, fellow Stepinac grad Al Riccobono said.
“He worked three jobs because he never wanted to say no to anything his daughter wanted,” said Riccobono, who had been friends with Riverso since grade school.
Danielle was born in 1994. Now a senior at Holy Child in Rye, she would visit her dad at football practice while he’d coach her little league games and teach her how to skate.
“His daughter used to say ‘I have the coolest daddy in the world,’” Teresa Riverso, Joe’s mother, remembered. “He loved his daughter.”
Riverso was friendly with many of the regular Sports Page patrons, and there was one particular group that would frequently come in for happy hour, for dinner or just to grab a drink. They worked at Cantor Fitzgerald, a Manhattan-based financial services firm.
“They got to know Joe pretty well and they really liked him,” Hyland said. “They knew he was an intelligent guy, and they said ‘It’s about time you got a real job.’”
In 1999, Riverso was hired by the company as a bond trader and began working in the North Tower of the World Trade Center. After a decade of countless jobs he was finally beginning his career, though he didn’t give up his shifts at Sports Page and still helped out the football team.
In 2001, one day in late August or early September, Hyland ran into Riverso on a train to Manhattan. One of the traits that drew people to Riverso, Hyland said, was that he was a good listener who didn’t spend much time talking about himself. On this train ride, though, Riverso opened up about his new life on Wall Street.
“He said ‘Geez, I’m really in a position now to do well with Cantor Fitzgerald.’ He was ready to get accounts and the whole thing, so things were getting very rosy for him,” Hyland said. “Just like everybody else, that was one of his goals. He wanted to live a good life. He wanted to be able to take care of Danielle.”
Riccobono was watching Monday Night Football at Sports Page when, with the Giants trailing the Broncos in the second half, Riverso told his friend he had to clock out. He needed to be at work at 7 a.m. and wanted at least a few hours of sleep. Riccobono told Joe he’d see him soon, and Riverso took off. It was nearly midnight on September 10, 2001.
When Riccobono heard the news that planes had hit both towers of the World Trade Center, it immediately registered that Riverso worked in one of the buildings. He dialed his friend’s number to make sure he had made it out of harm’s way.
“I got his machine,” Riccobono recalls.
No one from Cantor Fitzgerald, whose offices were on the 101st to 105th floors, made it out of the building after the first plane hit.
“We always think about Joe and miss him as much as ever,” Maria Riverso, Joe’s sister, said in an e-mail. “Especially now that there are nieces and a nephew named after him that he never had the chance to meet.”
Riverso also left behind his father, Dominic, and two brothers, Will and Ralph.
Since Riverso’s death, an annual golf outing fundraiser has been held in his honor with the money raised going towards a scholarship for students who share Riverso’s favorite pastimes – football and golf (more information on the outing can be found at www.joeriverso.com).
-By Andrew Vitelli
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.