Ernie Angerame, the long-time Lygon Street hairdresser fondly and famously remembered for cutting the locks of Carlton players on matchdays at Princes Park, passed away peacefully on Sunday evening after a short illness.
 
Ernie, who celebrated his 96th birthday on March 7, died at a palliative care facility in Glenroy - less than a month after the passing of ‘Nando’ Donnini, the patriarch of Lygon Street’s notable family of restaurateurs.
 
“Dad died after Sunday night’s game between Carlton and Sydney,” Ernie’s daughter Ines Angerame Cilmi said.
 
“We had all hoped the boys would knock the Swans over for him, but it just wasn’t to be.”
 
Ernie, who ably served as “barbiere ufficiale del Carlton Football Club” (that’s Carlton’s official club hairdresser) for more than 20 seasons through the 1950s and ’60s, originally hailed from the same region of southern Italy as Andrew Carrazzo’s grandfather Leo, who ran the Carrazzo family bakery in nearby Nicholson Street.
 
Four years ago, Ernie returned to the scene of his old barber shop at 330 Lygon Street, to fulfill a long-held wish to meet Andrew. They were photographed for posterity at the doorway to the place at which Angerame clipped the follicles of anyone and everyone from Carlton’s 1964 Brownlow Medallist Gordon Collis to the late former Governor-General of Australia Sir Zelman Cowan.

Ernie Angerame with Andrew Carrazzo in 2013. (Photo: Carlton Media)
 
Few were more quintessentially Carlton and Lygon Street than Ernesto Angerame - born in Viggiano, in the province of Basilicata, north-east of Naples in southern Italy, way back in 1920.
 
The fifth of six boys born to Francesco and Agnese Angerame, Ernie followed brothers John, Tony, Vince and Domenico, and preceded another brother Guido. Though Tony migrated to New Zealand and Guido remained in Italy, John, Vince, Domenico and Ernie all made the long voyage to the Great South Land. Ernie set sail aboard the steamship Remo in 1938 and not long after followed John into the hairdressing trade.

In 1948, Ernie opened the barber shop on Lygon Street, on the eastern side of the famous strip between Faraday and Grattan Streets. It was there for the next 36 years that he cut the crops of countless loyal customers, including the Carlton players with whom he struck up a real rapport.

In a previous interview with this reporter, Ernie recounted his unique ties with the football club, particularly through the Barassi years.
 
“I used to cut the hair of all the players - John Nicholls, Sergio Silvagni and John Benetti - and ‘Big Nick’ was my best customer,” Ernie recalled at the time.
 
“In those days haircuts cost five shillings, but the Carlton players got their hair cut at no charge. That was because I loved Carlton and I loved the players.”
 
At some point, Ernie was also encouraged to ply his craft at the old ground. He didn’t need to be asked twice.
 
“I used to lock up the shop at Lygon Street at 12 noon on a Saturday and walk down to Princes Park,” Ernie said. “I’d then cut the players’ hair before they ran out, then watch the game from the bottom of the race in front of the Robert Heatley Stand.”
 
A famous photograph, in which Ernesto enthusiastically trims the locks of the late John Benetti with Sergio Silvagni lending support, is amongst the most loved in the football club’s collection – just as Ernie himself was loved by the many, many grateful customers with whom the barbiere ufficiale del Carlton Football Club came in contact.
 
In reflecting on her father’s time at the barber shop and at Princes Park, Ines unhesitatingly declared them “happy, happy times” for him.
 
“Whenever he got back to Carlton in later years he’d always find that spring in his step, and to be truthful he never really retired,” Ines said.

Ernie’s commitment to Carlton and Lygon Street was but a part of the Angerame story. He also served as President of the Cavour Club and as secretary of Juventus in a glory era which yielded the soccer outfit five premierships.
 
He was later knighted by the Italian Government for his services to the community.

Ernie Angerame with Sergio Silvagni and John Benetti. (Photo: Supplied)
 
Ines lamented the fact that with Ernie’s passing the chapter had closed on the story of an entire generation. As she said: “My father is the last of six brothers to go and that whole generation of Angerames has gone, which is sad . . . but what a legacy”.

“Throughout his retirement he took on a lot of things. He was part of the local Neighborhood Watch program, he volunteered to help the people at Bundoora Extended Care and he was still cutting hair – whether for those he visited at the Assisi Centre or those who paid him a visit, in the garage at his home.
 
“He and Mum were even dancing into their 90s.”
 
When asked to describe the type of man her father was, Ines replied that Ernie “never relied on others to make things better, he just made them better himself”.
 
“Dad never did anything for personal gain or glory either,” Ines said. “He did it because he genuinely loved people, he loved doing things for others and he genuinely loved being part – that was a beautiful trait and that was the sort of person he was.
 
“He never growled or argued, but he commanded great personal respect. He always had a lovely smile and that little twinkle in his eye. He was a truly gentle soul and he never said anything bad about anyone.”
 
Ernie Angerame is survived by his beloved wife of 68 years Giuseppina, daughter Ines, son Renato and son-in-law Santo, together with grandchildren Damian, Justin and Bree, and great grandchildren Noah, Massimo, Kyrie, Milana and Matisse.
 
Funeral arrangements are yet to be finalised.