- Date Of Birth: June 30, 1965
- Date Of Death: April 19, 2020
- State: New Jersey
Obituary for Steve Senerchia Steven R. Senerchia, 54, of Toms River, NJ, passed away on Sunday, April 19, 2020. He grew up in Monmouth County NJ, living in Brick before moving to Toms River, NJ when he married Debbianne, the love of his life. Steven was a revered senior member working as a Dock Builder and Timbermen for Local Union 1556 in New York City, NY for over thirty years. He was a dedicated parishioner of St. Justin the Martyr RC Church, Toms River, NJ.
He was called back to the Lord as a result of an acute coronary attack while doing what he loved each Sunday morning, off road riding. Following his graduation from Ocean Township High School, he attended Grossmont College in California and was a player on the Grossmont football team for two years. He was scouted and offered nine full football scholarships to other colleges; he chose California State University, Long Beach, where he played defensive end for two additional seasons, in 1988 directly competing against Troy Aikman of Dallas Cowboys fame in the Pasadena Rose Bowl.
Upon returning to New Jersey to continue his love of surfing and boating at the Jersey Shore, Steve pursued his interests in auto racing and earned his NASCAR license. He was proudly sponsored by The Iron Shop in the 77 Pontiac Grand Prix and was often mentioned in Popular Mechanics magazine. He built all of his own race cars and competed in numerous stock car races throughout the United States including the Poconos 200 in Pennsylvania and Daytona Speedway in Florida. Prior to his out of state racing, he competed at Wall Stadium. Venturing out from local competition for the first time, he qualified in Daytona in a car he had built as the fourth fastest car on the track, his competitors being million dollar race car teams.
He went on to become part of the ARCA Menard Series. Several of his many races can be found online. In 2019, he became the winner of the prestigious East Coast Enduro Association Hare Scramble winning third place in his division, regarded as remarkable for a first time entrant to the series. For the past several years, he was an active member of the Ocean County Competition Riders where he continued to gather many good friends. The favorite of his many activities was spending time with his wife and son. He will be remembered at Wall Stadium for having additional safety rules established for the audience following a track injury to him there.
Union 1556 has notified the family it plans to erect a permanent memorial to honor Senerchia in both New York City and Asbury Park, NJ. He is preceded in death by his father Emanuel “Sonny” Senerchia, a major league baseball player and professional violinist. Steven is survived by his beloved wife, Debbianne Senerchia of Toms River, his mother Dorothy Senner of Tinton Falls, a brother Kenneth Senerchia of Divide, Colorado, a sister Susan Senerchia of Larkspur, Colorado, and his cherished son Brave E. Senerchia of Toms River.
