Bettinelli remembered as loving father, athlete

Charles Bettinelli, Jr., a former Sonoma resident, died in a car crash May 4 in San Diego. He was 40.

According to the San Diego Police Department, Bettinelli’s sedan drove off an overpass near SeaWorld at approximately 8:30 p.m. He died on scene.

Bettinelli, a sales manager for Ruckus Wireless, lived in Irvine, and was attending a work seminar at the San Diego Hyatt Regency Hotel, located not far from the site of the crash. Bettinelli – who carved out a successful career as a financial analyst for Merrill Lynch and, later, a sales director in the technology industry – is survived by his 9-year-old son, Nicolas, who he had with his former wife Amanda Miller Bettinelli. The Bettinelli family is setting up a college fund for Nicolas in his father’s name.

Bettinelli grew up a star athlete in town, playing multiple sports for Sonoma Valley High School in the early 1990s. “Charlie did everything: basketball, football and baseball,” said Steve Sangiacomo, longtime friend to Bettinelli and best man at his wedding. “He lettered in all of them.”

He was an all-leaguer in football, playing tight end and defensive end from sophomore through senior years. He received the National Football Foundation College Hall of Fame Athlete Award, one of the highest football accolades at the high school level. That same determination he brought to the playing field was evident in his studies, as well: Bettinelli finished Sonoma Valley High School with a 3.9 GPA and a scholarship to Columbia, where he studied engineering and continued to play defensive end at the college level. Mick O’Meara, football coach and biology teacher for Bettinelli in high school, said Charles was a one-of-a-kind person. “He was probably the best football player in school history,” he said. “But he was so much more than that. He was a great person, a kind man and a passionate learner.”

While playing for Columbia, Bettinelli helped turn around the college’s grid fortune, shattering its perception as one of the worst football teams in the Ivy League.

In 2012 Bettinelli was inducted into the Sonoma Valley High School Hall of Fame for excellence in sports.

“Charlie graduated in the top five percent of all engineering students,” Sangiacomo said. “And even though he was an amazing athlete and student, he was also a gentle giant with a big heart. He had this passion for everything he did and he tackled every problem head-on.”

In a statement issued to the Index-Tribune, the Bettinelli family said that Charles “had the ability to always make you feel better just being in his presence. He would greet you with a smile and a chuckle under his breath. He loved his family, and enjoyed bringing his son Nicolas back to the house he was raised at to listen to the birds, to swing on the swings, and to walk along the creek that he spent so much time as a child fishing in. His nieces and nephews will always remember the time that he made a basketball shot from 35 feet away.”

Therese Bettinelli, Charles’ older sister, said, “Charlie was always determined and successful at everything he tried. Growing up, I would teach Charlie what I was learning in school. When I was in fifth grade, he was able to do everything that I was able to do, and he was only in the first grade.”

Duggans Mission Chapel held a visitation May 13 and St. Leo’s Catholic Church held a funeral mass May 14 for Bettinelli. The Hanna Boys Center hosted a celebration for life later that day.

Donations for Nicolas’ college fund can be sent by check, made payable to Fidelity Investments (FBO NIcolas Bettinelli, A/C 618916783) at P.O. Box 770001, Cincinnati, OH, 45277.

‘He was also a gentle giant with a big heart.’

- lifelong friend Steve Sangiacomo