Coach, teacher Christopher Kartalis of Bayport dies

Christopher Kartalis, 82, a talented athlete, coach and teacher who lived in Bayport for 60 years, died Oct. 31 at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital after a long illness.

Kartalis was born on Staten Island and made a name for himself on the Wagner College varsity football team - which had a record-breaking year in 1949.

He also earned a master's degree from New York University.

Kartalis taught physical education and science in Sayville and Bay Shore public schools. And he coached school football, tennis, soccer and baseball in Bay Shore, Sayville and Stony Brook, at La Salle Military Academy in Oakdale and at the Knox School in St. James.

While Kartalis was teaching in Sayville, he met his wife, Elizabeth, an art teacher.

He enjoyed golf and tennis and gave private lessons to many Suffolk residents, teaching them the fine art of the serve.

His daughter, Jean Amacker of Lucerne, Switzerland, said her father, a former lifeguard at Saltaire on Fire Island and dockmaster at Flynn's Restaurant in Ocean Bay Park, "really helped me to learn to love the ocean."

Amacker said her father, the son of Greek immigrants, worked his way through high school and college. "He was a self-made man," Amacker said.

Kartalis enjoyed a moment of fame when the author Roger Kahn mentioned him in his baseball classic "The Boys of Summer." Kahn wrote about covering a football game at Wagner College as a young reporter - Kartalis was on the field and won a mention in the book.

John Cifelli, of Holbrook, had Kartalis as a junior high school physical education teacher and later joined him as a teaching colleague. Cifelli and his family kept in contact with Kartalis and he often joined them on special occasions.

"Chris was one of the guys who inspired me to go into teaching," Cifelli said.

Kartalis' wife predeceased him in 2004. Survivors include his daughter and two grandchildren, Christopher Amacker and Christiana Amacker, both of Lucerne, Switzerland. Kartalis is survived by three brothers: Jack of Howell, N.J., and Gus and William, both of Staten Island.

Visitation will take place Thursday, from 2 to 4:30 p.m. and 7 to 9:30 p.m. at Raynor & D'Andrea Funeral Home in West Sayville.

There will be a funeral service Friday at 11 a.m. at St. Ann's Episcopal Church in Sayville with private cremation.

The family requests donations, in lieu of flowers, to Wagner College Athletics, Reynolds House, One Campus Road, Staten Island.