R.I.P. - "Coach Trap" - Camillo Trapuzzano - Thomas Heyward Academy

Camillo Trapuzzano, the smiling, easy-going teacher and coach who directed Thomas Heyward Academy to five consecutive state softball championships in the 1990s, died Tuesday at the Medical University of South Carolina after suffering a heart attack Dec. 14, friends say.

He was 74.

Better known on campus as "Coach Trap," Trapuzzano had worked as a Spanish teacher for the private school in Ridgeland from 1991 until his death, and he became head coach of the school's softball team in 1992. His coaching tenure produced five S.C. Independent School Athletic Association state titles, and he captured his 300th career victory March 30 with a 16-1 victory over St. Andrew's.

He also was a longtime assistant football, softball and wrestling coach at Battery Creek High School, where his wife, Mary Ann, worked before transferring to Robert Smalls Middle School. Before moving to South Carolina in 1987 he was a middle school football and basketball coach in Pennsylvania, where he also was an umpire.

In addition to his wife, Trapuzzano is also survived by a son, Anthony, and grandson, Tony, of Tunkhannock, Pa., and a daughter, Roselalie, of Beaufort. -  link