James N. DeLuca, of East Syracuse, passed away on Saturday, November 15, at the age of 87.
He was a longtime music teacher, helped to provide the local soundtrack during America’s 200th birthday, directed music in front of U.S. presidents, and was part of one of Syracuse University’s greatest sports teams.
According to his obituary, DeLuca was born in Clyde, N.Y., on June 26, 1938, to Eugene James and Madeline DeLuca.
He was a 1956 graduate of Clyde Central High School and earned his bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University and a master’s from Ithaca College.
While at SU, he was the mascot, the “Saltine Warrior,” for the 1959 championship football team.
(The Saltine Warrior was SU’s mascot between 1931 and 1978. It was retired in 1978 for its racial insensitivity.)
In 2004, while on the golf course, Post-Standard sports columnist Bob Snyder asked DeLuca what he thought of SU’s current mascot, Otto.
He did not think too much of the lovable, fuzzy orange ball.
“He’s almost non-human,” he replied.
DeLuca retired from East Syracuse Minoa Central school district as Head of the Music Department after teaching for over 40 years.
“In that time, he made music a central part of the school curriculum, enlivened school events with his musicianship, and inspired generations of students,” his obituary said.
In 1989, DeLuca received the first Nortrip Lodge’s Dewitt Clinton Award. He was presented with a plaque in recognition of his community service. The selection committee noted DeLuca’s work with St. Mary’s Church choir, the community Christmas Cantata, Fife and Drum Corps and his rapport with his students.
He instructed hundreds of students during a popular summer music program.
“At one point, I had 700 kids and had to hire more teachers,” DeLuca said in 2005.
When President Lyndon B. Johnson visited Syracuse University in 1964, he was part of the pageantry while directing the John F. Kennedy Fife and Drum Corps of Minoa.
“The corps was dressed in black three-cornered hats, white shirts, black pants and red leggings,” The Post-Standard reported.
It was his first brush with the presidency.
During America’s bicentennial, he directed the Roundhouse Fife and Drums Corps.
“The company, made up of 130 students, plays authentic music from the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War periods, of American history,” The Herald-Journal explained in 1976. “During its four years of its existence, this group marched in parades throughout Central New York.”
His young students played on the White House lawn in 1975 and then was part of the welcome party when future President Jimmy Carter visited Syracuse during the 1976 campaign.
Two years later, he took the group to historic Valley Forge in Pennsylvania for the 200th anniversary of General George Washington’s famous encampment there during the American Revolution.
“Under DeLuca’s direction,” The Post-Standard reported, “a confusion of milling, tweeting, whistling, tapping, thumping fifers and drummers becomes a harmonious whole.”
“In time with DeLuca’s barked commands, a crowd of young girls becomes a squad of rifle bearers, replica guns slapping smartly and then twirling swiftly through the air, to snap suddenly into place against left shoulders.”
DeLuca ran for the Onondaga County Legislature in 1981, urging his incumbent challenger to debate him on the issues.
“I want to know why they cajole the voters with potholders, combs, and emery boards and say nothing of any substance,” he said.
According to his obituary, DeLuca also volunteered his time to conduct the Minoa Methodist Church Christmas Cantata, spent several years volunteering to deliver meals to those in need through Meals on Wheels, and played trumpet or horn with the Syracuse Symphony whenever he was needed.
During his summers, he could be found on the golf course with his fellow teachers and close friends.
DeLuca was predeceased by his wife of 58 years, Pauline (Cisternino) DeLuca.
He is survived by his children, Maria (Timothy) Mathews, James A. DeLuca and Theresa (Brian) Morey; granddaughter, Sarah Mathews; brother-in-law, Leonard (Denise) Cisternino; and many nieces, nephews and cousins.
The family would like to thank the staff at The Cottages for the care and compassion shown to him and his family.
His family will receive friends and family from 4-7 p.m. on Friday, November 21, at R.H. Schepp & Son Minoa Chapel, 6530 Schepp’s Corners Road, Minoa, N.Y. 13116.
A Mass of Christian Burial will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday, November 22, at St. Mary’s Church, 401 North Main Street, Minoa, N.Y. 13116.
Burial will be at St. Mary’s Cemetery and Mausoleum, DeWitt, N.Y.. Contributions may be made in his memory to Meals on Wheels of Syracuse.
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