Stewart: A year after heart attack, Sussex Hamilton's Andy Cerroni is scared healthy

You really have to be careful with the compliments sometimes.

Last week Andy Cerroni arrived at the gym to scout an opponent, climbed to the top of the bleachers and saw a familiar face. I shook his hand, enthusiastically, told him he looked great then after a pause added “not that you looked bad before."

You never want to seem so excited about someone’s new look that it makes him wonder what you thought of the old one. Cerroni got the point, though. The Sussex Hamilton boys basketball coach likes his new look, too.

He like how he feels even better.

“Right now I’m the lightest I’ve ever been. I’ve seen the underside of 200 for the first time in I don’t know when,” he said. “I was always 240, 248 and now I’m under 200 pounds and I just feel great.”

Coaching is a tough profession, especially at the high school level where most of the coaches also teach. The days are long but time is short. Fitting in time for a workout can be difficult. Eating right is sometimes easier said than done.

Cerroni, 57, lived that life until his moment of epiphany.

It was a year ago this week that he suffered a heart attack. It sidelined him for only a handful games. He did need surgery to place a stent into one of his arteries, and when he awoke, one of the first things he remembered seeing were his grandchildren. Two were on his bed. The other two were running around the room.

Cerroni, as he says, was scared straight.

“I was like you know what, it’s time to get my act together here,” he said. “I said I want to be around for them. I want to watch them grow up and be a part of their lives, so I thought this was the time.”

Most of us know what we should be doing when it comes to exercise but don't find the time. We know the kinds of foods we should be eating but don’t included them enough in our diets.

That was Cerroni, a guy who has one daughter who is a nutritionist, another who is a doctor and a son who also works in the medical field. That's not him any more, though.

Every morning he’s up at 5 a.m. to get in a 40-minute workout. He doesn’t miss a day, his wife makes sure of it. He has eliminated certain foods and watches his portions on others. Of course he misses certain things, but this new lifestyle has become routine.

There is no disputing the positive impact of those changes. Besides the weight loss, he is sleeping better and feels more energized.

“My biggest things is all my other pills I was on, my goal is to get off everything soon,” he said. “I was a Type 2 diabetic and I was taking four pills a day and now I’m down to one pill. My numbers are really good to the point where one of these times when I go into the doctor he’s going to say ‘You’re good, you’re no longer a diabetic. That’s what I’m hoping.”

Cerroni can be a role model for all of us out here carrying too many pounds and not treating ourselves as good as we should.

The day Cerroni suffered his heart attack, he was getting ready for an early morning shoot-around for his team’s game at Brookfield Central’s Luke Homan Showcase. This year Cerroni made the game at the Showcase and coached his team in a 14-point loss to Franklin that was closer than the final margin indicates.

Hamilton (8-6) has a young team and after a 7-1 start, it has dropped five of its last six games.

Still, life is good. Behind the team’s bench during the game two of Cerroni's grandchildren played, as they often do. And in the last year, Cerroni has enjoyed the birth of another grandchild and witnessed another start her first day of kindergarten.

“My family, there is no doubt, is the most important thing to me,” he said. “I just appreciate being around and doing things that I haven’t been able to do and feeling good about stuff. Playing with the grandkids, rolling on the floor, when I was pushing 250 that was tough.”

Mark Stewart can be reached at mstewart@journalsentinel.com or on Twitter at MarkStewartMJS.