Ray Campisi, a Cal State Long Beach student and member of the Long Beach State hockey team, died last week at the age of 51.
According to the Long Beach State Hockey Facebook page, Campisi had a heart attack during a recreational adult league hockey game at the Promenade Ice Chalet in Rolling Hills Estate on Wednesday, June 8. He was pronounced dead by doctors an hour later.
Campisi was born in Ipswich, Mass., and began playing hockey as a young child.
According to Frank Mitrano, coach of the LB State hockey team, Campisi played wing but was always ready to help out wherever he was needed on the ice.
Before joining the team at CSULB, Campisi played football at Northeastern University in the 1980s. When Campisi was injured, his football career came to an end and eventually led to him dropping out of school.
In an interview with USA Hockey Magazine in March 2014, Campisi said that he always regretted not finishing school, so decades after his withdrawal from Northeastern University he enrolled at Santa Monica City College.
Campisi told USA Hockey Magazine that while at Santa Monica City College, he received good grades and wanted to be challenged on a bigger campus.
Eventually, Campisi applied and was accepted to CSULB in 2012.
It was during his first year at CSULB that Campisi stopped at the Culver City Ice Arena for a therapeutic skate-session. Campisi told USA Hockey Magazine that the session reminded him of how much he missed playing hockey, so he called Mitrano and came to a tryout for the hockey team.
According to Mitrano, Campisi could have graduated last semester, but he put it off until the fall so he could play one last season with the team.
“All the guys, players and coaches, loved Ray. He was a genuinely good human being who cared about others,” said Mitrano. “He never complained if things weren’t going his way and obstacles only pushed him harder in his effort to succeed.”
In a Facebook post from the Long Beach State hockey team, Ray’s attitude and commitment were praised: “Ray was and is one of the greatest and most selfless people to wear a Long Beach State jersey. Ray never wanted anything handed to him and worked every day to make himself a better person on and off the ice.”
“His presence will be surely missed and he is one of the most dedicated players to ever wear a[n] LB State jersey,” Mitrano said. “Ray did not have any kids [but] the outpouring of condolences, sadness, and grief I have seen and… heard directly from players, alumni, fans, friends and fellow students only shows how many lives he touched.”
A memorial service will be held Friday, June 17, at 11 a.m. at the Grace Community Church, 13248 Roscoe Blvd., Sun Valley, Calif. 91352. All are welcomed.
Contrary to the article, Ray had two sons and a granddaughter. He also had 3 ex-wives. No one at LBS seems to know who Ray really was.