Nobody has more pride for Hofstra than Eddie Dello Stritto. For over two decades \u201cFast Eddie\u201d has been the school\u2019s beloved bus driver. But he\u2019s more than someone who drives everyone around \u2014 he\u2019s a super-fan that has become a fabric of the Long Island school\u2019s athletic department.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just happy to be alive and doing it, and doing it this long,\u201d the Stanhope, N.J., native said. \u201cI have met so many nice people. They come in as young kids and leave as grown men.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dello Stritto, 75, has been driving Hofstra teams since 1998 and has become a fixture there, as the Coach USA bus driver. He\u2019s been with the basketball team since he started. He\u2019s driven Craig \u201cSpeedy\u201d Claxton as a player and now an assistant coach. He was there for coaches Jay Wright and Tom Pecora and the \u201cThree Amigos,\u201d as he called them \u2014 Antoine Agudio, Loren Stokes and Carlos Rivera.<\/p>\n
He saw the school\u2019s only two back-to-back CAA Players of the Year, Charles Jenkins, who would rub Dello Stritto\u2019s silver locks for good luck before games, and now Justin Wright-Foreman, the nation\u2019s second-leading scorer with whom he shares a special handshake before and after games. Dello Stritto is hoping to get to see this year\u2019s team, which won the CAA regular season title, cut down the nets in the league\u2019s postseason tournament, which begins for the Pride on Sunday in North Charleston, S.C.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s not a person that doesn\u2019t have an actual Hofstra connection who cares more deeply about Hofstra and its athletic teams than him,\u201d said Stephen Gorchov, the school\u2019s sports information director.<\/p>\n Players and coaches describe Dello Stritto as a grandfatherly figure who is more than just a fan or a bus driver. He takes an interest in them, getting to know their families and them as people. Just ask former Hofstra coaches about him, men who haven\u2019t been around him or the school in years. Nobody forgets \u201cFast Eddie.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of personality. A real character, always upbeat,\u201d said Wright, now the Villanova coach. \u201cJust a guy you loved to be around. He always had stories for you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s the best,\u201d former Fordham coach, and current Quinnipiac assistant, Pecora raved. \u201cEddie would take dry runs, know the area before we got there. Class guy. He knew everyone\u2019s name, everybody loved to see Eddie. In the spring he would come in my office, we had coffee and talked.\u201d<\/p>\n It was Pecora who gave Dello Stritto the nickname \u201cFast Eddie,\u201d during a radio interview on WFAN with Mike Francesa about playing three road games in eight days.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had \u2018Fast Eddie,\u2019\u200a\u201d Pecora told Francesa, when asked about all the travel.<\/p>\n Dello Stritto, who served three years in the Army before becoming a truck driver, likes the nickname, though he is quick to note his bus only goes 68 mph.<\/p>\n \u201cI just hope my bosses don\u2019t get mad,\u201d he joked. \u201cEverybody knows me by that name, and it\u2019s fun.\u201d<\/p>\n They know his voice, too. Dello Stritto won\u2019t just sit quietly in the stands. He\u2019ll be court-side letting his opinion be known and rooting on Hofstra.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s tough on the refs, I\u2019ll tell you that,\u201d sophomore Eli Pemberton said.<\/p>\n![\"Eddie](\"https:\/\/thenypost.files.wordpress.com\/2019\/03\/eddie-dello-stritto-2.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&strip=all\")
<\/a>