Most stories about New York Post sports photographer Anthony Causi inevitably involved an improbable feat and a superstar athlete. There was the iconic photo he snapped of Mariano Rivera in 2006 that required him to “get through a layer of security and a layer of Yankee politics,” as his friend and colleague Charles Wenzelberg wrote in the Post.
He regularly charmed normally guarded athletes to let him enter their safe spaces. That included Floyd Mayweather taking him to a Vegas club and posing for him like it was a rap video and Mets outfielder Yoenis Cespedes giving Causi carte blanche to snap photos of him on his sprawling ranch. And, in a room full of reporters, former Giants tight end, the irascible Jeremy Shockey, proclaimed that he didn’t trust any of them. Except for Causi.
There are more stories just like this. They involve guys named Melo, Derek Jeter, LeBron James. Strung together, the tales paint him as a ballpark Paul Bunyan who left a trail of goodwill and breathtaking photographs in his wake. But he was even more significant than that.
On Sunday, Causi passed away after a monthlong battle with COVID-19. He was 48. He leaves behind his wife Romina and his two children, John, 5, and Mia, 2. As news of his death circulated, it crushed an industry already reeling from an indefinite pause due to the deadly virus. Tributes poured in from every corner of sports, including team owners and names such as Jeter, Didi Gregorius, bad-boy MMA fighter Conor McGregor, and Todd Frazier.
And if stadiums or arenas could mourn, it’s guaranteed that Madison Square Garden would have flooded Seventh Avenue with its tears and Yankee Stadium would have buckled from the inner tremors produced by a grief-stricken cry.
A graduate of Lafayette High School in Brooklyn and Pace University, Causi joined the Post in 1994 as a photo messenger. He had a stint as a photo editor before becoming a full-time photojournalist chronicling nearly a quarter of a century of Big Apple sports. Behind the camera, Causi was a maestro, capturing some of the most inspiring images of recent history. His work often blurred the lines of journalism and art. And his gallery was the vaunted back page of the gritty tabloid. Most recently, he was there during a tender moment between Eli Manning and his children following the Giants legend’s final win at home, an image that anchored Manning’s legacy as a loyal family man. He may as well have been looking into a mirror.
To the Bensonhurst native, the family was paramount. When he spoke of Romina and his young children, he always sounded like a man who just found out that he hit the Powerball jackpot.
Causi was a prolific friend-making machine. Gregarious, charming, and fearless, he worked any room like an ace politician on the stump. However, unlike most politicians, he was sincere. He was down-to-earth and spoke fluent Brooklynese.
But it was the people whose names we won’t recognize from the back of a jersey whose stories were most revealing of the contents of Causi’s atrium chambers. There was Justin Quinlan. In 2010, he was popping the question to his now-wife in Central Park, and, moments later, Causi approached the couple and apologized for interrupting, but he had seen the romantic gesture from a distance, whipped out his camera, and caught Quinlan in midproposal. He sent them the picture, a keepsake Quinlan called a “random act of kindness.” Quinlan’s touching tale was one of many. Causi was famous for shooting complete strangers — fans taking their kids to the ballpark, spectators caught in the action — hunting them down, and sending them the photo. Fiercely competitive, he did all of this while never missing a frame of whatever game he covered. As his coworker, I was often the recipient of his over-the-top kindness. On assignment, he’d secretly be photographing me at work and send great images of me interviewing celebrities, athletes, or just minding my own business.
It’s like he was on a mission to build a million scrapbooks.
A few years ago, he told me about the time David Beckham asked him to photograph him at a daylong event. Causi had been referred by a friend to the soccer superstar and met him that day. After the event was over, Causi was packing up to go home. But the Englishman wasn’t having it.
“Come have dinner with me,” Beckham said.
Causi told the story in awe to illustrate how wonderful Beckham had treated him. What he didn’t realize was that, while Beckham may have been great, it was he who was such good company. Beckham wanted their time together to last. He wanted Causi to stick around.
We all feel that way.
