So many people knew and admired Joseph “Joe” Giuliotti from so many perspectives that it presented somewhat of challenge for John Giuliotti to cover all fields in his father’s eulogy.
But John Giuliotti did it masterfully, encapsulating all that “Joe” accomplished in his life, most notably rising to the top of his profession as a legendary sports Boston Herald sportswriter covering the Red Sox.
There was also Joe Giuliotti, the widely respected high school hockey assistant coach at Shawsheen Tech who was inducted into the State Hockey Coaches Hall of Fame, and of course, Joe Giuliotti, beloved husband, father, and grandfather.
A Great Teller of Stories
Joe “Gill” as many called him, maintained his enthusiasm for journalism and Boston sports beyond his retirement as writer. He would be stopped often by long-time readers of the Herald who yearned to hear his opinion on the current-day Red Sox organization.
Joe was certainly a crowd favorite at the Independent Newspaper Group offices in Revere where he would pick up his weekly copies of the East Boston Times Free-Press and Revere Journal and regale the staff with Red Sox stories, truly inside stuff about players, coaches, and team owners.
“Joe was a natural storyteller, funny and expressive and always informative,” said former Journal writer Dave O’Connor. “He was opinionated, but always respectful. It’s no wonder he found such success as a columnist.”
“By reputation and as a reader, I knew Joe first as a prominent member of Boston’s high-energy sports media scene. But to know him personally was to quickly understand how much he loved high school hockey and coaching. He talked about his Shawsheen players with as much passion and details as he could recount a story about the ’78 Red Sox.
“I genuinely enjoyed his weekly visits to the Revere Journal offices,” said O’Connor. “He never failed to tell something I didn’t know or share a story that I wouldn’t forget.”
At Fenway Park, ballpark personnel could always count on Joe for a friendly greeting. On game days, when he used to walk up the aisle behind home plate on his way to the press box, he would stop to chat with vendors, ushers, and other ballpark personnel. He always found the time to lift everyone’s spirits.
Admired by Colleagues
NBA writer Steve Bulpett, who started at the Boston Herald in 1985, was a long-time colleague of Joe Giuliotti in the sports department.
“Joe was a solid reporter who knew everything about the sport he was covering,” lauded Bulpett. “And when you strip away all the other stuff, that’s really the key to the job. He was so knowledgeable about baseball, but he was also a hockey guy. When I would run into Joe, we were more likely to talk about hockey than basketball or baseball.”
Bulpett said Joe Guiliotti was always professional, personable, and helpful. “I was originally hired at the Herald to be the backup person on Red Sox and Bruins beats. Back then, that meant doing sidebars for home games. I worked with Joe on baseball early in my career. It was great to work with a guy with that kind of experience, that kind of knowledge. Having Joe as your colleague, that’s like having the golden ticket.”
Former Boston Herald sportswriter Tony Massarotti, Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan, and Red Sox beat writer Bill Ballou of the Worcester Telegram were among the many professional colleagues who came to St. Lazarus Church to pay their respects to Joe Giuliotti, one of Boston’s greatest sportswriters of all time. (Next week the East Boston Times-Free Press will feature more remembrances of Joe Giuliotti, as told by his son, John, in a beautiful tribute to his father, in the eulogy).