One of the most recent inductees into the Sault Ste. Marie Sports Hall of Fame is remembered for his prowess on the mound, but his family says there was so much more to him than just his dynamic throwing arm.
Reno Pettenuzzo, the popular softball fast-pitcher who dominated the game at home and abroad in the 1960s and 70s, was among two athletes named to the hall earlier this week — the other, oval track racer Hubie Brazeau.
Passing away in 2019, Pettenuzzo was widely considered the best at his craft in town and across the province during his playing days. Three all-Ontario Senior B Championships with the Sault Northerners, and MVP honours in the Toronto Beaches League, were among many of his career accolades.
His wife Brenda has countless fond memories of attending games and cheering him on from the stands, both at home and on the road.
But when asked about her late husband, softball wasn’t the first thing that came to mind.
“My husband was a very humble man, he worked hard at everything he did,” she said. “I was more interested in him as a human being. He was so dedicated to whatever he did.”
Brenda and Reno first met when they were just 17 and 19 years old respectively. The two were married for 53 years before he passed away nearly five years ago.
Shortly after amassing an impressive 21-5 record during a professional stint in the U.S. with the Rhode Island Brewers in 1970, Pettenuzzo decided to retire from softball and focus on family life.
He’d help Brenda raise their three daughters before the family tree eventually extended to eight grandchildren.
“After he quit, he was right into family life,” she said. “Reno was a great husband — dedicated and loyal. He was a great father, and a really good nonno. His friends and family would say he was a very good human being and put his heart and soul into his family.”
Beyond proud of their descendants, Brenda said her husband helped pass down a number of incredible traits and lessons that their children and grandchildren live by to this day.
Many of those qualities are infused with his love of athletics.
“Our three daughters are all in sports — he passed that on,” she said. “My grandson is in law school in Lansing, and he phones all the time. He says, ‘I just went for a run thanks to nonno, it does clear your mind.’ He’s passed that on to his girls and his grandchildren, so we’re really blessed.”
“He even used to pick up all the kids in the neighbourhood, and we’d go down to Elliott’s and play soccer,” she added. “Any sports thing like that, he’d get all the kids involved, including his own and his grandkids.”
For the Saultites who weren’t familiar with Pettenuzzo’s stellar work on the diamond — whether it’s because they weren’t into the sports scene or weren’t around at the time — then they probably knew he was good with a pair of clippers.
For more than 50 years, Pettenuzzo ran Reno’s Barber Shop on Second Line West. He purchased that building across the street from the old Prince of Wales school in the early 1960s, and it was in operation until he became ill several years back.
“He bought his own barbershop so he could be the boss, and he’d come and go when he wanted to play ball,” Brenda said. “Then he could just get people in the shop to help out. His whole life at that time was ball — he was very dedicated to it.”
“He was such a good athlete,” she added. “He played hockey and basketball and played well into his seventies. He actually jogged right up until probably two weeks before he was diagnosed.”
Named Sportsman of the Year many times during his softball career, Pettenuzzo never sought after the attention, nor did he focus on the awards and accolades, according to his wife.
And with the recent news of his induction into the Sault Ste. Marie Sports Hall of Fame, Brenda noted this huge extension of appreciation by the city would have been no different.
“Reno would be a humble guy,” she said. “It’s a great honour, and he would be very honoured. But he’d be brushing it off too. He was always so focused on what he wanted to do. We’re so happy for him, and it’s so well deserved. I wish he was still here.”