LI Music Hall Of Fame To Honor Late Inductee Pat DeRosa, A Huntington Teacher, With Event

STONY BROOK, NY — The Long Island Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame is set to host an event to honor the life of Pat DeRosa, an inductee to the hall, at 2 to 3 p.m. Oct. 19, at the LIMEHOF, located at 97 Main St., Stony Brook.

DeRosa was a long-time music teacher in the Huntington School District and also the Guinness Book of World Record Holder for the 'Oldest Professional Saxophone Player.' He was inducted in 2021.

Pat's daughter, Patricia DeRosa, is set to host the event. A special video/interview presentation will include a Q&A with is daughter and granddaughter, special raffle for all attendees, and a live performance played by his family and friends. The event is free for members and free with regular paid admission to the Hall of Fame.

Pat DeRosa was born in Brooklyn on Dec. 6, 1921. At the age of 12, his mother took him to a music store on the Bowery to buy his first saxophone and from that point forward, music took over his life, according to the LIMEHOF. The 1930s brought the DeRosa family to Huntington, where a lack of suitable teachers led DeRosa to teach himself to play and read music. When DeRosa joined the high school band as a student at Central School District in South Huntington, his passion for performing rose to new levels.

After graduating high school in 1940, DeRosa went to work at Grumman, manufacturing airplane parts for the war. Within a year, he joined the Grumman band and formed his own trio, performing at nightclubs and parties all over New York and Long Island.

In 1943, at the height of WWII, DeRosa was drafted into the Army Air Forces and sent to Greensboro, North Carolina, for basic training. Soon after, DeRosa was offered to audition for the "Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band" and was accepted. He spent three years traveling around the U.S. with the band performing and entertaining the troops.

DeRosa returned to Long Island in 1946 and enrolled at Manhattan School of Music while getting the opportunity to perform with legends of the era, including Bob Hope, Milton Berle, Andy Williams, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Though he was performing late into the night, he was still able to find time for his studies and earned his bachelors and masters degrees in music education.

In the early 1950s, as Big Bands were dying out and work was scarce, DeRosa followed his other passion and became a music teacher at Huntington Elementary and South Huntington Memorial Junior High.

DeRosa's "true brush with greatness" came in the 1960s when he met Jazz great John Coltrane, who asked DeRosa to join him for a duet, according to LIMEHOF. The two continued to perform together for three years until Coltrane’s death in 1967.

DeRosa formed the Pat DeRosa Trio in 1969, playing constantly, including at the first inaugural ball of President Richard Nixon.

Since retiring from education in 1978, DeRosa continued to perform shows from the Hamptons to Florida.

In 2021, in addition to his induction into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame, DeRosa was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the 'Oldest Professional Saxophone Player.'

DeRosa died March 30, 2023.