12 CHICAGO wore patches to honor her memory the remainder of the 1991-92 season, the second championship. Her death had an impact on players as much as the front office. impacted our team emotionally, especially for younger says Stacey King, now a Bulls broadcaster. was like a mother figure to players like me and B.J. (Armstrong), who been in the league very long.
She meant so much to the night, postoperative doctors and nurses overlooked her internal bleeding. Her heart stopped the following day. At 40, that smile, her spirit were gone. weird because I was only 3, but I remember sitting on top of a slide and my dad came. I was really excited to see him because it time for him to pick me Tina says in her firstpublic comments since her death.
remember the look on his face. Even at 3, you understand. knew something was wrong. then I remember being in her hospital room standing over her bed looking at her. A lot of it, even today, is so hard for me to understand and let go of.
more sadness over what I get to know and the person I lost. wish that I had more Among belongings, Graziano found a letter in her purse that she had written before the surgery. was a letter from her to Graziano says. was very superstitious that something would happen to her. It said, have to take care of Tina.
It might be rough in the beginning. But going to be As Reinsdorf told Graziano, was Sheri, very In October 1995, a jury awarded survivors more than $17 million for her wrongful death. the years go by, you forget (the says Graziano, now 53. just learn to live with it and to manage it. not a pain that goes Love at first course They met on a cruise ship.
Graziano, who grew up on a farm outside Venice, Italy, in a small town called Conselve, came to serve her dinner table. Sheri was six years older. Graziano mustered up his best English to introduce himself. was like Graziano says. knew what it They sneaked off to Curacao when the ship docked.
Graziano used every pay phone in the Caribbean to check in on Sheri once she returned to Chicago. Three months later, in May 1986, he traveled to Chicago to surprise Sheri for her 35th birthday. Sheri treasured her birthdays, once joking that she would hold Tina in when the due date threatened to make theirs a shared birthday. Four months later, Graziano took Sheri home to Italy to meet his family. They vacationed in Greece, where Graziano learned of intense yet occasionally comical fear of heights.They made plans to marry.
They were wed in December 1987. Tina came along the next June. The young family purchased a condo in Des Plaines and settled into the rhythmof married life, full of shared mornings of cappuccinos and newspapers. Graziano took classes for a degree in food and management and rose to be manager of the main dining room at the Four Seasons downtown. Meanwhile, Sheri kept Reinsdorf in check.
used to say, act like a big shot with me; been in sports as long as you Reinsdorf says. was friend. Everybody loved and respected her, even when she told them no. She was also a great judge of people, which not. she passed, I found out about tons of business relationships she had with people that I had no idea she had.
call and never get to me because take care of it. was truly a part of my family. My kids loved her. My wife loved her. And she gave me a lot of She gave a lot of herselfto everyone.
Graziano slips in and out of present tense when recalling Sheri. was very caring. She has a heart for people. For me, coming from another country, she encourages me and makes my life easier. We had such a great bonding.
She loved her job and was very protective of Jerry. And she was family devoted. Tina was everything in her On Sept. 30, 1988, Sheri wrote the follow- ing in baby book. impossible to believe how beautiful you are and the joy you bring.
Your smile lights up my world in away I never thought possible. I know there was as much love in the whole world as I feel for you. My sweet, sweet little A tough time gets harder Reinsdorf struggled for years to describe the void passing created. The team She meant even more at home. went through some rough Graziano admits.
Grazianoremarried. It work out, though it did produce a son Tina is close with. not a psychiatrist so this is a self-diagnosis, but I feel like because I was so young, I understand the concept of Tina says. I understood my mom was gone. But the whole story behind it is complicated and messy and angry.
I able to grieve properly for kindness helped, like when Reinsdorf commissioned a 92-page book about life, personally dedicating the copy one of just 12 he gave to Tina. And she found enjoyment playing varsity tennis at Glenbrook South High School and at Roosevelt University, where she is scheduled to graduate in April 2011with a communications degree. Then came Robyn, next love. one of the best things that ever happened to my dad and Tina says. has a genuine spiritual relationship with my mom.
She knows she replace my mom. But she also lets me know there to be my surrogate mother if I need Graziano and Robyn, who co-own restaurant in Rosemont, celebrated their fourth anniversary Friday. sent her a beautiful letter three years ago and said ready to call you Graziano says. then, all she calls The Berto and the Bertos stands strong The Bulls and the Berto Center were constant sources of solace. Graziano counted age by Bulls championships.
Both were guests of at the final five. Tina grew up around grandchildren, holding up the signs during the 1998 Finals in Utah. are really good Tina says. Shortly after the last championship, Graziano surprised Tina by taking her youth basketball team for a practice at the Berto Center. Graziano remembers Tina taking pictures, soaking it all in with her friends.
And just recently, Tina took stepsister Natalieand boyfriendNickto the building that never lets her or others down. time I come in through the front door, I stop and read the plaque honoring Reinsdorf says. Tina, who recently interned with the Schaumburg Flyers, wants to follow footsteps and own a sports team. She also hopes to start a nonprofit organization that would offer recreational sports opportunities to kids from single-parent homes. Those are future goals.
On a recent sun-splashed day, Tina, now 22, shifts on her couch and looks to the past. She glances over to the photo of her parents on their wedding day. She smiles. talk to my mom by myself all the she says. confused about something or need some advice, talk to her.
I believe that 19 years later, still in minds. ask for anything BRIEFLY A MOM, FOREVER A MEMORY Graziano and Sheri Berto met on a cruise ship in 1986 and married in December 1987. was like Graziano says of their meeting. knew what it Tina Berto, shown with her mother, Sheri, was born in 1988. wish that I had more says Tina, who was 3 when her mother died.
The Derrick Rose does an interview at the Berto Center in September. The Deerfield practice facility named for Sheri Berto still provides solace to her daughter, Tina, her husband, Graziano, and her former boss, Bulls and White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf. PHIL TRIBUNE PHOTO Continuedfrom Page1 lot of it, even today, is so hard for me to understand and let go of. more sadness over what I get to know and the person Berto Product: CTBroadsheet PubDate: 11-21-2010 Zone: ALL Edition: BDOG Page: MAIN1-12 User: grejohnson Time: Color:.
