Meet Santa Carl Superina, a Long Island high school football official bringing holiday cheer to kids for decades

The DJ blared "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and the room exploded in excitement. More than 270 children, eyes wide open, stared at the doorway as Santa Claus made his entrance.

They screamed his name and could barely control themselves, overwhelmed by the excitement of meeting the man himself.

Escorted by an elf, Santa Claus entered the ballroom at Oheka Castle in Huntington. The bespectacled, long-bearded Santa danced his way into the ballroom before being engulfed by a sea of children.

No penalty flag for roughing Santa Claus here.

“Best entrance ever,” said Carl '‘Santa’' Superina, 71, of Smithtown, who just finished his 27th year as an official for high school varsity football games for the Suffolk County High School Football Officials Association. “They swarmed me, almost knocked me over, grabbed at my legs and hugged me. I started dancing with some of them, holding their little hands and spinning around. What a glorious feeling.”

Superina looks forward to donning his Santa Claus outfit every year during the holidays. On Thursday, he was the embodiment of the true spirit of Santa Claus for the 30th anniversary of Toys of Hope and American Giving Project. Superina wore the same suit he purchased 40 years ago, when he was an instant hit with his own children and the neighborhood kids.

Santa to the rescue

“He’s an angel who saved the day,” said Melissa Doktofsky, of Huntington village, the founder and president of Toys of Hope. “Our Santa had a medical episode last week and was unable to attend the event and we were stuck. We found Carl through a mutual friend, and he was so gracious. He was an extraordinary Santa. He was engaged to the children, and they felt so loved. He had that Santa gleam.”

The children, from underserved areas throughout Long Island and the five boroughs, were bused to Oheka Castle to meet Santa.

Laura Anders, who has volunteered on the board of directors for Toys of Hope and American Giving Project since 1998, knew about Superina and his experience as Santa.

“I’m friendly with his wife, Marie,” Anders said. “Marie and I met when our daughters were in elementary school and we were active in the PTA. We were also on the Smithtown High School college scholarship committee. We were in dire need of someone to be Santa and I kept in touch with Marie. I asked her if Carl would be our Santa. He was our rescue Santa.”

Superina, who retired in 2018 after 40 years in information technology at Credit Suisse investment banking firm, finds plenty of time to be Santa Claus for a wide variety of different entities. He’s found himself in character for family, neighbors, friends and charitable organizations.

Ho, ho, ho? This Santa can't say no, no, no.

Santa the official

Superina is a top-rated official who has worked the past 10 years as the white hat (head official) for his own five-man crew. He has earned nine playoff appearances in 10 years, including two selections to the Long Island championships.

“I am passionate about two different uniforms,” Superina said. “In football, I want to give the players a level playing field and watch them perform. My job is to enforce the rules and let them play. When I’m Santa, it’s all about the smiles on the faces of the children. The thrill of watching them light up is better than any paycheck.”

Floyd football coach Paul Longo said seeing Superina and his crew walk out onto the field for his games is always comforting.

“He has tremendous respect in the football community,” Longo said. “He does a great job and is very consistent. He only calls the dangerous and the obvious calls, and he’s excellent with the players and communicates well with them and the coaches. Always happy to see his crew show up.”

How it started

Forty years ago, Superina bought his first and only Santa Claus suit from Rubie’s Costume Company in Hauppauge for $200. He and Marie, his wife of 48 years, have three children, Nick, Graig and Kristen. Christmas week would always be fun.

“My son Nick was 3 years old my first time in character,” Superina said. “Then I started wearing the suit every Christmas Eve at four or five neighbors’ houses between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. And then it was Christmas Day with our family up in Westchester. Everyone got to sit on Santa’s lap.”

Nick Superina, now 43, and his wife, Christina, live in Potomac, Maryland, and he relives the early years in Smithtown, where Santa came alive every Christmas Eve.

“Dad would secretly go up the stairs and get the outfit on,” he said, laughing at the memory. “You could faintly hear the jingle of the bells on his suit. He would go outside and get the sack of toys he stashed there. I remember vividly that he’d jingle the bells and we’d all be beyond ourselves as he approached. I get the chills thinking about it — the memories. And everyone — kids and adults — sat on Santa’s lap and got presents.

"Then he’d head out to visit houses around the neighborhood. They’d leave the presents outside so he could stuff them inside his Santa sack. As I got older, I recognized how special it all was for us. Our daughter, Kate [11 years old], and son, Vince [7], now get the Santa experience. My son was totally scared of Santa. He’d cry and Dad would calm him down by offering a lollipop.”

The neighborhood

Margie Jimenez remembers when her family — her husband, Anthony, and 3-year-old son, Peter — moved to Smithtown in 2001. They got a surprise visit from Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.

“It was magical,” she said. “And Carl continued to come over for years after we had our other children, Marie Lena  and Luke. He would bring gifts into the house. My dad died when I was 19 and Carl became a father figure for my family. He is certainly a real Santa Claus and very special to us. He brings joy everywhere he goes.”

Another neighbor, John Mahon, said Superina could really bring energy on Christmas Eve. Mahon would dress his Dodge 1500 Hemi in lights, blast Christmas music and add a folding chair in the bed of his pickup truck while driving around the neighborhood as Santa tossed candy canes to the kids.

“My girls Olivia and Victoria were 8 and 6 years old and called my truck Big Red,” he said. “I had Carl’s number in my phone as Santa and I’d call him up. My girls thought it was so cool that their dad knew who Santa was. Carl was like a father to me when I moved into the neighborhood as a 24-year-old. The girls called him Uncle Carl.”

Matty Rose has lived in the neighborhood for 59 years. She’s known Carl and Marie since the day they moved in next door 43 years ago.

“He’s been Santa for my Christmas party for 30 years,” she said. “He’s the best. We have the whole family here, three generations with all the grandkids. And he kids around with my 95-year-old sister and has her sit on his lap and gives her all the attention — just wonderful. He sacrificed time with his family to make everyone else’s night. He loved the kids, the community, and believed in giving back.”

'I just become him' 

There have been some emotional moments for Superina.

“When I put on the Santa suit, it’s such an amazing feeling and I just become him,” he said. “Watching kids glow and get excited makes me feel so good and I forget that I’m Carl.”

It wasn’t always smiles and laughter. There were heartbreaking moments, too.

One year he visited the St. John’s Hospital children’s ward in Smithtown and a resident said it would be her last Christmas.

“She said she loved Santa and thanked me for being there for her,” he said. “The nurse cried and then I cried. It was unbelievable.”

He cherishes the moments with his brother-in-law, Vincent Bonvino, who sat on his lap every Christmas through 2005 before he died at 62 in March 2006.

“He’s a beautiful man, revered in his community,” Doktofsky said. “We’ve already asked him to come back next year. He was the best Santa we’ve ever had.”

By Gregg Sarra

gregg.sarra@newsday.com@Gregg_Sarra

Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.