Matt Albanese, former Farmingdale High School football star, dies at 40

Matt Albanese made a lasting impact on the Farmingdale High School football team because of the way he played the game. His former teammate and coach said the All-Long Island middle linebacker's intensity was unmatched...

"He didn’t tackle you — he ran through you," said his former teammate, quarterback Matt Danowski. "His legacy was that he created a culture that we all followed.”

“We’ve had a lot of special players in Farmingdale,” said Buddy Krumenacker, the Dalers coach the last 33 years. “Matt is in a different category. We never lost track of one another as we had a very close relationship. He would always come by and speak with our players.”

Albanese lived in Farmingdale and was a letter carrier for the United States Postal Service in the Bellmore area. His wife, Amanda Albanese, said he was found unconscious while walking his mail route on Dec. 18 and taken by ambulance to Mount Sinai South Nassau hospital in Oceanside, where he died. He was 40 years old. 

According to his wife, an autopsy revealed that her husband succumbed to atherosclerosis — a coronary artery disease.

“Matt was in the best shape of his life,” she said. “He was walking more than 30,000 steps per day on the job. He was high-energy and everyone loved him. He loved the job and the people. He even played Nerf guns with the kids on his route.”

Albanese was remembered as an intense individual in everything he did. Whether it was playing high school or college football, working in demolition or with the Local 212 Carpenters Union on high-rise buildings or delivering mail, he was passionate about the task at hand.

“Matt was passionate about everything he did,” Amanda said. “He loved hard. He worked hard. He played hard. And he was a super protector, looking after everyone.”

“He was a great athlete, successful in anything he played,” Danowski said. “His competitiveness, toughness, preparedness and pure physicality are standards Farmingdale football still lives by today."

Albanese, who graduated in 2003, led the Dalers to consecutive Nassau Conference I titles and a Long Island Class I championship in 2001. The middle linebacker cemented his legacy in school lore as a two-time All-State selection and a two-time honoree on Newsday’s All-Long Island first team. He played at C.W. Post.

“I recruited Matt out of Farmingdale,” said Brian Hughes, the C.W. Post associate head coach at the time. “Buddy [Krumenacker] said he was the best he ever coached. He came over for a visit and became a pillar of our program. He was a classic, hard-working, supertough young man. He was the face of our program.”

Albanese played middle linebacker and fullback in the short yardage offense. C.W. Post earned a spot in the Elite Eight in the NCAA Division II playoffs in 2005 when Albanese was a junior.

“Division I colleges passed on him because of his size,” Hughes said. “But they all made a mistake. He found a home with the Post boys, and we were thankful he was a part of our program.”

Hughes, who now coaches sprint football at Molloy University, said Albanese was a ferocious linebacker who played with an unmatched intensity. He earned All-Conference and All-American honors.

Amanda said that after she and Matt graduated from Farmingdale they went their separate ways only to reconnect in 2015. After a short engagement, they were married in August 2017.

“We have known each other since the second grade at Woodward Parkway Elementary,” she said. “We reconnected later in life and became best friends and soul mates.”

Amanda laughingly said that dating Matt was contingent upon her relationship with his mother.

“Matt’s dad died when he was 8 years old,” Amanda said. “He was the man of the house at a very young age and built a superclose relationship with his mother. He told me I had to get along with his mother for us to work out. It was non-negotiable. He said, ‘My mom has to love you, and you have to love her.’ He called her every day.”

Albanese had built an incredibly tight bond with his mother, Alicia, and older sister, Danielle.

“I was blessed to have a son that included me in everything,” said Alicia Albanese, of Farmingdale. “I’m eternally grateful to have a wonderful son, who was also a loving brother. It was just the three of us when his dad died. We were surrounded by an amazing Farmingdale community that rallied around us.”

Alicia Albanese said she is most proud of the "extraordinary father that her son became."

In addition to his wife and mother, Albanese is survived by his two sons, Matt Jr., 5, and Thomas, 3, and sister, Danielle Albanese, of North Carolina. A funeral Mass was celebrated at St. Kilian R.C. Church in Farmingdale followed by burial in St. Charles Cemetery in East Farmingdale on Dec. 23.

Krumenacker said the hearse drove by the Farmingdale High School football field on the way to the cemetery.

"The varsity players lined the gate when the hearse came in," he said. "It was a beautiful tribute for the most complete two-way football player we’ve had since I’ve coached here. He was a linebacker of the first order.”