Teacher, official Vincent Michaelis dies

Vincent Michaelis always got a kick out of his part in Billy Crystal's story in the HBO baseball documentary "When It Was a Game."

Michaelis, a longtime administrator and media relations official in Nassau County, was Crystal's junior-high history teacher in Long Beach one fall in the early 1960s, when the New York Yankees were playing in the World Series.

Crystal, a die-hard Yankees fan, faked an upset stomach and kept asking to go to the bathroom so that he could follow the Series game on radio.

As Crystal left to make a third trip to the bathroom, Michaelis said: "Mr. Crystal, at least when you come back will you give us all the score?"

Michaelis died Tuesday of heart illness at Long Beach Medical Center, his family said. A resident of Long Beach for nearly 35 years, Michaelis was 79.

"He just thought it was great," said Dan Michaelis, 51, of Baltimore, recalling his father's reaction to Crystal's story. "He sent a note to Billy thanking him for the mention."

Crystal called Michaelis a "very fine teacher" in an email and also said when he returned to the school later as a substitute teacher Michaelis became a friend.

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To friends, Michaelis' wry comeback was no surprise. They saw him as something of a Renaissance man for serving two years in the Peace Corps, teaching school, supervising the Long Beach lifeguards, acting in community theater and then moving into administrative positions in Nassau County.

From 1969 to 1987, his son said, he held a variety of county jobs, including deputy commissioner of mental health, head of Nassau Coliseum media relations and Nassau's chief public relations official. After retiring in 1987, he moved first to Maine and finally Jensen Beach, Fla.

"He wore many hats," said longtime friend and one-time college roommate, Robert Carroll, 79, a former Long Beach recreation chief. "He was the type of guy you couldn't put your finger on. He diversified his life so everything was extraordinarily interesting and exciting to him."

Carroll said Michaelis startled friends when he volunteered for the Peace Corps in 1966.

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For two years, Michaelis, his wife, Barbara, and their two young sons lived in Monrovia, Liberia, in West Africa.

Dan Michaelis remembers flying with his dad and a pilot on small planes to remote Liberian villages. "Sometimes I'd sit in the co-pilot seat. It was quite an adventure for a kid."

Other survivors include son, Robert Michaelis, 47, of Long Beach; sisters, Dorothy Lattanzi of Hudson, Mass., and Rita Borden of Garden City Park; and two grandchildren. His wife died in 2006.

A funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Friday at St. Ignatius Martyr Roman Catholic Church, Long Beach. His remains will be cremated.