Fiocchi, the ‘ol' grouch', dies at 98

LADD — For three decades, Charlie Fiocchi molded young men at Ladd Grade School into a winning machine on the basketball court.

His Indians won 70 percent of the 900-plus games he coached.

And they did it all on the road.

Ladd had no gym to play in and no gym to practice in. They practiced on mud, sand and gravel.

To win that many games under such circumstances helped Fiocchi earn induction into the Illinois Basketball Coach Association Hall of Fame in 1994 and into the Bureau County Sports Hall of Fame in 1997.

In the famous words of the coach himself, “Not bad for an ol’ grouch.”

Not bad at all.

Fiocchi died Wednesday at the age of 98. He will be remembered as a winning coach and a gentleman.

Always humble, Fiocchi modestly looked back at his career prior to his induction into the Bureau County Sports Hall of Fame. He told the BCR in 1997 he thought he was overrated because he didn’t believe he did anything unusual.

“I was very happy what I did. I just tried to do my best for the kids and things worked out, that’s all. I think they do for everybody when they do what they think is right,” he said.

Coaching gave him an outlet to do something he never had a chance as a player. He claimed to have been such a poor player in his day at Ladd he didn’t get to sit on the bench, but rather had to sit on the floor next to the bench.

And he enjoyed coaching basketball because it provided kids an outlet to stay out of trouble.

“Back in the old days, when they weren’t doing anything, they’d get into fights,” he said. “But give the kid a basketball, and you give them a chance to express themselves and accomplish something.”

A member of the Bureau Valley Elementary Confer-ence, Fiocchi’s teams never backed away from the competition of larger schools in Bureau County, including Princeton’s Logan Junior High.

He used to joke with Logan counterpart Max Pannebaker that he had all the tall Swedes at Logan, while Fiocchi had all the small Italians.

Of his basketball teams, Fiocchi said, “I didn’t make them good ballplayers; they made me a good coach.”

His teams were known for their politeness as much as their winning ways.

Fiocchi started his teaching and coaching career at Cherry Grade School in 1936. He moved on to Ladd, finishing as superintendent of schools.

Ladd finally built a gym near the end of his career which would be named for him when the Ladd Community celebrated its centennial.

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