Trainer Stephen ‘Hap' DeAngelis dies at 82

Stephen “Hap” DeAngelis, a longtime trainer turned steward, died Saturday in New Jersey, according to friend Pat Devereux. DeAngelis was 82.

“He was just a champion of a guy,” Devereux said.

Devereux, a Louisiana-based trainer who met DeAngelis years ago in Kentucky, said his friend was a leading trainer on the Ohio circuit before becoming a steward and working at tracks in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Devereux said DeAngelis was a highly personable man whose patience was one of his best attributes as a trainer. He had friends throughout the industry.

“Anybody that was around him just loved him,” Devereux said.

DeAngelis’ survivors include his wife, Lois.