Coach Ernie Pantusso

Ernie "Coach" Pantusso

Coach errs in preparing a fictional Hawaiian drink, Kon Tiki Tiki, by putting the coconut cup into the blender
First appearance Give Me a Ring Sometime (episode 1.01)
Last appearance Rescue Me (episode 3.25)
Cheerio, Cheers (last filmed with Colasanto)
Portrayed by Nicholas Colasanto
Information
Occupation Baseball coach (retired)
Assistant bartender (1982–1985) (until death)
Spouse(s) Angela (deceased)
Children Lisa (daughter)
Relatives Joyce (niece)

Ernie Pantusso (or Pantuso[1][2][3][4]), commonly known as "Coach", is a fictional character on the American television show Cheers, portrayed by Nicholas Colasanto between 1982 and 1985. Coach was Sam Malone's baseball coach before the series began. Then he became a bartender of Cheers while Sam became its owner and another bartender. He is not "worldly wise" but has some shred of wit. When Colasanto died in 1985, Coach was written out as deceased without explanation, and Woody Harrelson joined the cast as Woody Boyd in the fourth season of Cheers.

Casting

Former umpire Ron Luciano auditioned for Coach Ernie Pantusso, but he failed to get the part because producers "wanted an experienced actor".[5] Robert Prosky, who later appeared in the eleventh season episode "Daddy's Little Middle-Aged Girl" (1992) as Rebecca Howe's Navy father, was offered the role of Coach, but he turned down the role.[6] Therefore, the role was given to Nicholas Colasanto.[7] According to Colasanto, Coach was nearly "child-like" and more of a surrogate "son" than a surrogate "father" to Sam Malone (Ted Danson), while Sam was more of a "father" to Coach for dependency on Sam's "moral support". Moreover, Coach was beloved by everyone and a good "lovable man".[8] According to director and producer James Burrows, the character of Coach was much different from the actor Nick: Coach was slow, while Nick was sharp.[9]

Coach is a component of many people. [...] [He] is not a worldly man [and] not well-read. He comes from the dugouts. He may be intelligent, but he's not worldly wise. He's so positive; that's what makes him funny. He'll say the most absurd thing, but, if someone corrects him, he immediately capitulates because he doesn't want to offend anyone.[10]

— Nicholas Colasanto, The Associated Press, August 1984

Role

Ernie "Coach" Pantusso is a slow, forgetful bartender[9][11] with a gravel voice,[7] caring personality, shred of intelligence,[12] and warm heart. "The Coach doesn't have any worldly ambitions—he's very happy to make his paycheck, and drink with the boys," said portrayer Colasanto.[8] Moreover, he listens to people and their problems very well.[9] He is still nicknamed "Coach" by everyone, although he has been retired from coaching for years. He has a sister and two brothers.[13] His older brother is an artist and was cruel to Coach, like dunking him in the water during their youth.[13] His younger brother has a wife Phyllis with a daughter Joyce (Cady McClain),[13] who attends Boston University.

For a long time, Ernie has been nicknamed "Coach" because he was Sam Malone's baseball coach of the Boston Red Sox. As a young man, Ernie dropped out of high school and joined the Navy. He then played minor league baseball and a little bit in the Majors with the St. Louis Browns. As discovered in "The Tortelli Tort" (1982), with the Browns, he led the American League in hit by pitches for two consecutive seasons. He later ended up with one of Boston's farm teams, the Pawtucket Red Sox as a coach and also managed in the minors. He moved back to the Majors as Boston's third base coach when Sam Malone was pitching, where the two developed a close friendship. When Sam succumbed to alcoholism, leading to the end of his baseball career, Sam bought the bar Cheers and hired Coach as a co-bartender.

Coach is a widower of his wife Angela, who died before the show debuted. They have a daughter, Lisa (Allyce Beasley), whom he encourages to end an engagement to a fiancé he disliked in "Coach's Daughter" (1982).

In "Pick a Con... Any Con" (1983), Coach loses a bar asset of $8,000 in gin rummy games to the con artist George Wheeler (Reid Shelton). Bailed out by Sam and Coach, Harry the Hat (Harry Anderson) helps them retrieve the money back by playing poker with George. When George and Harry are revealed to have been secretly cheating, they decide to play again for real. George promises to return the money if he wins, but George loses to Harry. However, after George exits, Harry reveals to have been teaming with Coach all along to cleverly retrieve the money.

In the two-part episode "Rebound" (1984), after Sam and Diane broke their on-and-off relationship, Sam relapsed into alcoholism and committed excessive womanizing. Therefore, Coach goes to Diane Chambers's (Shelley Long) apartment to inform her about Sam's relapse, so she brings in her love interest, Frasier Crane, who is a psychiatrist, to help Sam cope with his alcoholism. Coach convinces Diane to be a waitress again, so Sam does not relapse again. Then he convinces Sam to re-hire her as a waitress again, so Diane does not lose her mind again. Then he convinces Frasier to be still Diane's fiancé by making her a waitress again, so Sam and Diane do not start another relationship.

Later, in two-part episode "Coach in Love", Coach is engaged to a widow Irene Blanchard, but she breaks off the engagement after she wins the lottery and is engaged to another man who is a millionaire. He later earns the highest grade in his geography class in "Teacher's Pet" (1985) after deciding to return to school with Sam to earn his degree.

Death

I don't think anything will happen this season. There's a great deal of talking to be done, and nothing is definite. But we're a realistic show, and we will deal with what happened to the coach in a realistic manner.[9]

James Burrows (February 14, 1985)

Following Colasanto's death by heart attack on February 12, 1985,[14] the show's creators decided not to recast Coach's role,[9] so Coach is written out of the show as deceased without explanation and is replaced by a co-bartender Woody Boyd, portrayed by Woody Harrelson in the fourth season premiere episode, "Birth, Death, Love and Rice" (1985).[15] Apparently Coach and Woody were "Pen Pals" exchanging pens in the mail. Sam explains to Woody Coach died recently. When Sam visits Diane, she expresses sympathy about Coach's death. Coach has been referenced occasionally since then, including the time that his niece Joyce appears in only one episode, "The Godfather, Part III" (1987)—not to be confused with the film of the same name. In the series finale, "One for the Road", Sam straightens a photograph of Geronimo, used by the late Colasanto as part of his dressing room while he was alive. The photo was hanging at the bar wall of the stage set "as a remembrance."[16]

Reception

Since 1983, Nicholas Colasanto was Emmy-nominated three times as an Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role of Coach, including his posthumous award nomination in 1985, but he did not win.[17] On April 19, 1985, Colasanto was awarded posthumously the Best Supporting Actor by Viewers for Quality Television, a defunct non-profit organization that determined what was considered high-quality on television, for this role.[18] Michael Hill from The Baltimore Evening Sun called Coach "the brilliant character".[19] Robert Bianco praised Coach as the "heart" of the show, an ensemble's father figure, and Diane Chambers' "dependable ally". Bianco praised Coach for giving heart to the "Sam and Diane" story and for making the show a "classic". He was devastated that the actor and the character himself died, and he was disappointed that the show was not as great without him. Even with Coach's replacement Woody Boyd, Bianco considered Coach irreplaceable.[20]

Ted Danson, who played Sam Malone on Cheers, felt that the show lost its "heart and soul" following Colasanto's death.[21] Bill Simmons, previous writer of ESPN, praised Coach for making the show a "show", yet he felt that his death transformed the show into a "sitcom".[22] A writer under a pseudonymous name, Joe Sixpack, from Philadelphia Daily News, named Coach his second most-favorite "complete professional" bartender with a warm heart to customers, despite his limited range of intelligence.[23] Columnist Amber Lee from the Bleacher Report website called Coach one of "25 funniest coaches of film and television".[24]

Jeffrey Robinson of the DVD Talk website praised Colasanto's performance for executing many dimensions to his character Coach, as opposed to his replacement Woody Boyd, whom he found one-dimensional and clueless.[25] Adam Arseneau disdained the show for improperly honoring the memory of Colasanto by poorly handling his character Coach's disappearance in the third season and death in the fourth.[26]

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Sherwood, Rick (February 21, 1985). "Cheers to you, Coach Ernie Pantuso". Gainesville Sun (Gainesville, Florida). p. 6-C. Retrieved January 16, 2015 – via Google News Archive.
  2. ↑ Mannix, Vin (May 20, 1992). "Ex-pope player finds decisions don't get easier". The News (Palm Beach County, Florida). p. 1-C. Retrieved January 16, 2015 – via Google News Archive. [Ben] Ruby [...] learned from that silly song [that] the late Coach Ernie Pantuso used to sing on Cheers: It [Albania] borders on the Adriatic.
  3. ↑ Lewis, John E; Stempel, Penny (c. 1998). Cult TV: The Comedies: The Ultimate Critical Guide. UK: Pavilion Books (previously published by Bay Books). pp. 53–54. Retrieved January 16, 2015. ISBN 978-0912333656.
  4. ↑ Keller, Richard (July 9, 2008). "Where are they now: The employees and patrons of Cheers." The Huffington Post. Retrieved January 16, 2015 – via AOL.
  5. ↑ Woodley, Richard (July 12, 1982). "`I've Been Wearing a Mask All My Life,' Says Ron Luciano, but Now the Umpire Strikes Back". People 18 (2).
  6. ↑ Simonson, Robert (December 9, 2008). "Robert Prosky, Seasoned Actor of Stage, Film and Television, Dies at 77".
  7. 1 2 Vernon Scott (July 11, 1982). "Series producers working now to get 'Cheers'". Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, Iowa). United Press International. p. 20. Retrieved June 21, 2012.
  8. 1 2 Angus, Joe (August 21, 1983). "Coach seen as lovable man". The Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma Publishing Company) – via NewsBank. (registration required). Official website: (subscription required).
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Dawidziak, Mark (February 14, 1985). "Cheers Won't Try Recasting Coach". Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio). p. 1D – via NewsBank. Record no. 8501050953.
  10. ↑ "Colasanto Strayed from Directing to Take Role as Cheers Bartender". Schenectady Gazette (Schenectady, New York). August 4, 1984. p. 25, TV Plus section.
  11. ↑ Jones, Gerard (1992). Honey, I'm Home! Sitcoms: Selling the American Dream. New York: Grove Weidenfeld—Grove Press. p. 264. ISBN 9-780802-113085.
  12. ↑ Buck, Jerry (July 31, 1984). "For this lovable 'Cheers' actor, directing is where his heart is". The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Associated Press. p. D7. Record no. at NewsBank: 8402100379 (registration required). Official website: (subscription required).
  13. 1 2 3 Bjorklund 1997, p. 275
  14. ↑ Keets, Heather (February 11, 1994). "Coach's Last Call". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 27, 2011.
  15. ↑ "Birth, Death, Love, and Rice." 1985. Cheers: Season 4: The Complete Fourth Season. Paramount, 2009. DVD.
  16. ↑ Liner, Elaine (May 21–22, 1993). "TV's favorite bar turns off the tap". Corpus Christi Caller-Times (Texas). p. A1. Record no at NewsBank: 113001A60C3FB35B (registration required).
  17. ↑ Bjorklund 1997, pp. 457–458.
  18. ↑ Buck, Jerry (April 19, 1985). "The Results Are In for Quality Television's First Poll". The Orlando Sentinel (Three star ed.). The Associated Press. p. E9. Record no at NewsBank: 0290180135.
  19. ↑ Hill, Michael, from The Baltimore Evening Sun (February 17, 1991). "Like an old shoe, 'Cheers' is just plain comfortable". The Tampa Tribune (Tribune Company). p. 55. Record no. at NewsBank: 0EB0EF2BDDC1580F (registration required).
  20. ↑ Bianco, Robert, from The Pittsburgh Press (November 7, 1990). "A toast to 'Cheers' as it celebrates its 200th episode". Scripps Howard News Service. Entertainment and culture. Record no. at NewsBank: 9001080362 (registration required).
  21. ↑ Feran, Tom (July 23, 1996). "Danson puts Cheers years behind him". The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio). p. 10E. Record no. at NewsBank: 08705016.
  22. ↑ Simmons, Bill (February 21, 2002). "Page 2: Dear Sports Guy...". ESPN. Archived from the original on December 10, 2008. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  23. ↑ Joe Sixpack, pseudonymous (March 23, 2007). "The Hall of Foam: The 20 bartenders I wish could pour for me". Philadelphia Daily News (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). p. 65. Record no. at NewsBank: 7006886267.
  24. ↑ Lee, Amber (March 9, 2012). "25 Funniest Coaches of Film and Television". Bleacher Report. Archived from the original on July 16, 2012. Retrieved July 16, 2012.
  25. ↑ Robinson, Jeffrey (May 25, 2004). "Cheers: Complete Third Season". DVD Talk. Retrieved December 9, 2012.
  26. ↑ Arseneau, Adam (July 12, 2004). "Cheers: The Complete Third Season". DVD Verdict. Retrieved December 9, 2012.
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