Charles 'Kamikaze Kid' Bonasorte, former Pitt football player, Oakland kiosk owner, dies
Charles Bonasorte, a former University of Pittsburgh football player and owner of a popular Oakland kiosk, died Friday.
Pittsburgh Sports Now’s Harry Psaros said Bonasorte’s death is “a profound loss for the Pitt community.”
Bonasorte was raised “just a stone’s throw from the Cathedral of Learning,” Psaros wrote, and frequented Pitt Panthers games as a child before donning the jersey himself.
Known as the Kamikaze Kid, Bonasorte played on the university’s 1976 national championship team.
He owned the Pittsburgh Stop Inc., an Oakland kiosk specializing in Pitt sporting apparel.
His father, Charles D. “Ringy Bonasorte, was co-owner and operator of the Chasmar restaurant in Hazelwood.
“My father and my Uncle Bucky (Joseph Bonasorte) inspired my brother and I to participate in sports,” Charles Bonasorte told TribLive after his father’s death in 2008. “They took us to every Pirate and Pitt game. And as soon as my brother and I were old enough, they signed us up for Little League.”
University Store on Fifth, Pitt’s official campus store, in a social media post Saturday described Bonasorte as “a fixture in Oakland and a Panther icon.”
“He will be missed by all of us who work, live and study in Oakland,” the Instagram post read.
“A legendary Pitt Panther, he represented the best of Pittsburgh,” City Controller Rachael Heisler wrote on Facebook.
Julia Burdelski is a TribLive reporter covering Pittsburgh City Hall and other news in and around Pittsburgh. A La Roche University graduate, she joined the Trib in 2020. She can be reached at jburdelski@triblive.com.
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