By Rick Assad
An hour before Burroughs High faced La Canada on the gridiron, a 45-minute ceremony to honor one of its Hall of Famers took place at Memorial Field on Friday before a sizable crowd.
Former football standout wide receiver and basketball player Kyle Cremarosa passed away at 41 this past July 4, and his life, which he lived to the fullest, was celebrated by former coaches, teammates, friends and family, including his wife Anna, who also attended Burroughs, daughters, Olivia, 13 and Makena, seven, his mother Debbie and father Ed.
Three speakers addressed the crowd and talked about what Cremarosa – captain of the football team his senior season – meant to the football program and school, including Keith Knoop, the former football coach and current athletic director along with Robert Dos Remedios, his first varsity coach at Burroughs.
“Kyle was the complete package. Humble, yet always striving for greatness,” Knoop recalled. “He knew how to set goals for himself and found ways to obtain them. He was always concerned whether or not he was living up to his role as a leader and captain. Kyle surrounded himself with good people.”
This season’s football season is being dedicated to Cremarosa, who possessed athletic gifts and intellectual gifts after graduating from Harvard University, where he played football and had a highlight reel, one-handed reception versus Yale in 1999, in 2004 with a Psychology degree.
Cremarosa later worked for Capital Group, one of the world’s largest asset managers.
Additionally, the players will be adorned with an arrowhead and the number 7, which was Cremarosa’s number.
During the evening’s remarks, Knoop said he had the pleasure of coaching the school’s two best wide receivers at the same time, Cremarosa, who had the fourth most receiving yards in a game in school history with 225 versus Burbank in 1998 and 10 receptions versus Evergreen [Seattle, Washington], which the ninth most in school history, and Glenn Adriatico, who was in attendance.
Knoop said when Cremarosa played football at Burroughs, it was truly a unique time as several players were good enough to have played at Columbia, Brown, Pennsylvania, University of Washington, UC Davis and of course Harvard.
Knoop talked about some of the numbers Cremarosa put up while at Burroughs and they are impressive.
They are 200 points scored, fifth all-time, and from 1996 through 1998, he had 137 catches, second all-time, 2,385 yards, second all-time, 25 touchdowns, second all-time, a 17.4 average per reception, third all-time, 57 receptions as a senior, third all-time and 1,137 yards as a senior, third all-time.
Though Cremarosa, who loved music and the guitar, is no longer among the living, his spirit will live on through his many friends, teammates, coaches and family members.
