Pio DiSalvo Jr. of Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan, formerly of Clearfield, Pennsylvania, died on October 22, 2026. He was born in the Clearfield Hospital on August 12, 1938, the son of Pio and Mary (Mandolia) DiSalvo. He was a 1956 graduate of St. Francis High School of Clearfield and a parishioner of St. Francis Catholic Church in Clearfield and a parishioner Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Grosse Pointe Woods.
Pio served in the U.S. Army’s 4th Armored Division in New Ulm and Furth, Germany. He served as the sports trainer for the division from April 1962–September 1963. After the Army, Pio returned home to Clearfield to operate the DiSalvo’s Tavern in East End until 1967.
Pio attended a professional baseball trainer’s school in West Palm Beach, Florida, in 1967. From there, he was hired by the Boston Red Sox to become their Class A trainer in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He then was hired for the same position by the Detroit Tigers for their Class AA team in Montgomery, Alabama, and moved up to AAA in Toledo, Ohio, and Evansville, Indiana.
While with the Evansville Triplets, his team won the 1975 little World Series and 1979 American Association AAA Championships. In 1980, he returned to Detroit as trainer and spent the next 15 years with the Tigers, working alongside Manager Sparky Anderson during the Tigers’ winning seasons, including the 1984 Baseball World Series and the American League Eastern Division Championship in 1987. Pio retired in 1994.
In addition to his parents, Pio was preceded in death by four sisters: Rose Castagnolo, Mary Jane DiSalvo, Margaret Marino, and Virginia Czarnecki; and two brothers: Carl DiSalvo and Charles (Buster) DiSalvo.
He is survived by two sisters, Joan Magistrella of Clearfield, Pennsylvania, and Mary Mullen of Charlottesville, Virginia.
Pio will be buried at Calvary Cemetery in Clearfield, Pennsylvania. In lieu of flowers he has suggested that memorial contributions be made to the St. Francis School Educational Endowment, the Kirk Gibson Foundation or the charity of your choice.
Visitation Thursday, November 5 from 4-8 PM at A.H. Peters Funeral Home, 20705 Mack, Grosse Pointe Woods.
He will lie Instate on Friday, November 6 at 10:00 AM until his funeral Mass at 10:30 AM at Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church, 467 Fairford, Grosse Pointe Woods, MI 48236.
At a later date, there will be a Mass at St. Francis Catholic Church in Clearfield, Pennsylvania and a memorial service at Calvary Cemetery.
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