Chas Bonasorte, Pitt football’s ‘Kamikaze Kid’ and owner of famed Pitt apparel kiosk, died at 70

Chas Bonasorte became a mainstay of Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood after his time as a student ended, thanks to his renowned apparel outpost, The Pittsburgh Stop Inc.

Charles "Chas" Bonasorte, a member of Pitt's 1976 national champion football team and renowned owner of the Pittsburgh Stop kiosk in Oakland, died on Dec. 13. He was 70.

Bonasorte, a Hazelwood native, played at Pitt following his high school career at the now-closed Bishop Boyle High School, where he was the team's Most Valuable Player. Being only a few blocks from the Pittsburgh campus, he grew up a Panther fan and often attended Pitt games with his family.

He achieved his dream of playing at Pitt from 1972 to 1976. He lettered for three straight seasons beginning in 1974, when he began to make a name for himself on special teams. In 1974, he memorably blocked a punt against rival No. 5 Notre Dame in Pitt's narrow 14-10 loss in South Bend, Indiana. He earned the nickname "The Kamikaze Kid" for the reckless abandon he displayed covering kicks and punts.

In the following seasons, he grew into a key contributor not only on special teams, but also as a backup linebacker. In his time at Pitt, the Panthers underwent a massive transformation. Though they went 1-10 in his first year, the team improved their record each year after that, leading to a 12-0 national championship 1976 season.

"I'm the only guy to see 1-10 and 12-0," he told The Pitt News of that distinction in 2008.

But it was following his Pitt football career that Bonasorte truly became a mainstay on the Pittsburgh campus for his apparel kiosk, The Pittsburgh Stop Inc. The operation began in 1989, when Bonasorte would stand outside the William Pitt Union with shirts in one hand and shorts in the other, selling them to passerby students. Soon, the shop evolved into a kiosk on the corner of Forbes and Bigelow, where it remains to this day.

Pitt in a statement called Bonasorte "a legend on campus and in Oakland for decades."

"The University extends its deepest sympathies to all who knew and loved the Kamikaze Kid, who was as much a part of the Pittsburgh campus experience as the Victory Lights and Oakland Zoo."

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