Joe Belluzzo

Joe Belluzzo, the Italian-born immigrant credited with popularizing youth soccer in Sonoma County, died Nov. 11 at the age of 90.

The sport was part religion and all devotion for Belluzzo as he pursued, confidently and aggressively, his passion for the game that is so beloved in Europe and Latin America.

He began in 1965 by signing up 33 boys to play soccer, which led to formation of the Santa Rosa Youth Soccer League in 1969. Today on any weekend, given a dry field, thousands of youngsters and adults can be seen on local soccer pitches.

“My father was my role model and played such a huge role in my career,” said his son, Rick Belluzzo, a software industry executive in San Francisco and former Microsoft president, who was coached by his father. “I’ve had the opportunity to work with a lot of great people, but my father established the values, the integrity and the passion that I have tried to follow.”

In 1980, he was inducted into the California Youth Soccer Association Hall of Fame. And in 1975, he received the Santa Rosa Citizen of the Year award.

Andrew Ziemer, a Santa Rosa United soccer coach and co-owner of Ziemer Brothers Soccer, recalled being a youngster and coached by Belluzzo.

“He’s volunteered hundreds of thousands of hours for the game,” Ziemer said. “He has a passion for the game second to none.”

Beluzzo was born in Verona, Italy, one of 10 children raised by his mother. During World War II, he was drafted into the Italian army and was captured by British forces during combat in Africa.

He came to Oakland as a prisoner of war in 1944 and liked the Bay Area so much that he returned after the war ended. He worked as a garbage collector in San Francisco before moving to Santa Rosa in 1956 to work as a machinist for the Bepex Corp. He retired in 1984.

He was a devoted family man who enjoyed watching soccer and sharing his love for the game. Until a couple years ago, he operated a repository for used soccer shoes out of the garage of his Rincon Valley home, making sure no child would lack proper equipment.

He campaigned for better soccer fields in Santa Rosa, and when he retired from Bepex in 1984, the company donated land for the fields on Moorland Avenue in Santa Rosa that now bear his name.

In 1999, Belluzzo secured a spot on The Press Democrat’s list of 50 most influential people in Sonoma County history because of his efforts to promote the game, which now attracts more youngsters than baseball.

“I want to see soccer at the level of football,” he said in a 1995 Press Democrat interview. “It will take a long time, but it will.”

In addition to his son, he is survived by his wife of 63 years, Doris Belluzzo, of Santa Rosa; daughters Lorraine Harris of Reno, Nev., and Laura Gish of Santa Rosa, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

A celebration of his life will be held Saturday at 1 p.m. at Daniels Chapel of the Roses, 1225 Sonoma Ave.

The family requests donations to the Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 1244 St. Francis Rd., Santa Rosa, 95409, or the Santa Rosa Youth Soccer League, P.O. Box 3217, Santa Rosa, 95402.

-- Bleys W. Rose