From the Police to Pickleball
If you ever play pickleball against Charlie Esposito and body bag him, nail him in the face or chest with an overhead smash, it won’t faze him.
Charlie has been shot at. He’s walked in the dark in New York’s most dangerous neighborhoods. He’s confronted murderers, drug dealers and fugitives.
You think a plastic ball scares him?
Charlie Esposito was a New York City police officer for 16 years. He spent much of that time patrolling crime-ridden housing projects in Brownsville, Brooklyn. One well-known newspaper columnist said patrolling those projects was “the toughest job in the entire police department,” and that “cops there were 10 times more likely to get killed” than anywhere else. Despite that, Charlie thrived on the action. “I loved it,” he tells me.
He received many commendations and was promoted to sergeant in 1999. He says during his years on the job, from 1992 to 2009, he was involved in more than 4000 arrests.
Charlie retired due to health reasons when he was 41. He spent most of his time watching his two sons and one daughter play sports. They excelled, as he did. He loved hockey growing up on Staten Island and was an all-New York City goalie for St. Peter’s Boys High School. He graduated in 1987 from St. John’s University, where he majored in sports management and minored in criminal justice.
He endured a painful divorce. “I’ve been knocked down,” Charlie says. He talks fast, with a thick New York accent. “I didn’t go around that mountain, I went through it. But like Rocky said, ‘When you get knocked down you get up and keep fighting. That’s what winners do.’”
Charlie calls Lucy his rock.
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At 59 he’s a 5-foot, 9 inch tall whirlwind, known by friends as “Charlie Always on the Go.” That’s also the name of the transportation businesss owned by his second wife, Lucelly. Charlie calls her Lucy and “The greatest woman in the world.” They met at a party and in 2016 moved from New York to Port St. Lucie, Florida.
Charlie works part-time as a driver for his wife’s car service. “I’ve driven around a lot of movie stars and executives,” he says.
Charlie had learned construction and home investing over the years. By the start of 2024 he owned four condominiums, two houses and one villa. He also worked in security. He discovered pickleball in 2021 and like most of us quickly became obsessed with it. “I love everything about pickleball and I’ve made so many friends through it,” he says.
He lives in PGA Village Verano and plays tries to play pickleball five days a week in-between chauffeuring customers around and tending to his rental properties. He’s also an ambassador for Hudef Sport. “They have the highest quality paddles you can buy for their prices and the best warranty in the business,” he says. The Viva Pro Gen 3 is his main paddle.
Everyone in his community knows “Charlie Always on the Go.” He’s on the pickleball committee and condo board. “I have a huge customer base for the transportation service,” he says.
His pickleball team is called the “Verano Sopranos.” Their saying is “Bada Dink,” named after the strip club in The Sopranos, the “Bada Bing.” He has colorful nicknames for his buddies who play. There’s “Tony Lobs,” “Al from da Bronx,” and my personal favorite, “Dominick your pizza sucks.”
Charlie had played racquetball for years and quickly became good at pickleball. He says he’s close to a 4.0 player, maybe a shade under, and won medals in mens doubles in all 12 tournaments he entered in 2024.
Charlie calls Lucy his rock. “I love her more than anything,” he says. They both love their five-year-old rescue dog, a chihuahua mix named Simba. “He’s so smart,” Charlie says. “I say ‘pickleball’ and Simba runs to the front door. My wife puts on his leash and he leads her to the pickleball courts.”
Charlie has a pickleball New Year’s resolution. “I want to improve my skills and be more consistent,” he says. “Be a solid 4.0 player.”
After all that Charlie has been through, coming from behind in a pickleball game is nothing. Charlie likes to say, “Never surrender,” in pickleball and in everyday life. “Never surrender, fight, and don’t let anyone say you can’t do something. I did and I’m an average Joe.”
So you can see why getting drilled by a plastic ball doesn’t faze him.
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