Gary Vicini, Hall

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by Shaw Media

Howard Fellows, La Salle-Peru, Legacy Award

Gary Vicini

HALL

NEWSTRIBUNE FILE PHOTOS

Accomplishments

● A 1972 Ottawa graduate, he was a legendary football coach at Hall, where he also coached baseball, softball and track and field ● Led the football team for 25 seasons where he finished with an all-time record of 195-80 and qualified for the state playoffs 20 times ● Compiled a 32-18 playoff record and led the Red

Devils to the Class 3A state championship in 1995 and 2001 and 3A state runner-up finish in 1996 ● Coached baseball for 17 years, winning three regional titles ● Member of the inaugural Hall

High School Hall of Fame and

Illinois High School Football

Coaches Hall of Fame

By Brandon LaChance

If you went to Hall High School in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s or are a local sports fan, you either know Gary Vicini or recognize the name.

The new generation, however, may need a refresher course.

“It’s funny and I laugh a little bit,” Vicini said. “When I substitute teach at Hall, I talk to some of the kids and ask them, ‘What year were you born?’ They’ll answer, ‘2003.’ I tell them I retired from teaching in 2009 when they were only 6 years old. A lot of those kids are not real familiar with who I am, although some of the boys know me. “It’s fun to think about what happened. There are trophies in the trophy case. There are a lot of super athletes that went through the school in the 1990s and the 2000s that played football for us. To say I’m a legend? No, I just coached high school football.” The 1972 Ottawa High School (played football, basketball, and baseball) graduate and 1976 Illinois Wesleyan University (played NOW WHERE are they football and baseball) graduate has had only one employer – Hall High School.

He was hired in 1976 to teach physical education and driver’s education. Frank Colmone, the Hall athletic director at the time, knew Vicini was a gym rat and hired him to coach the sophomore football team, the freshman basketball team and be the head baseball coach.

“I moved to Spring Valley in 1976. I was a young, single man and

always loved sports. When Frank asked me if I wanted to coach, I said, ‘Why not?, I have the time,’” Vicini said. “I met my wife, Lisa, and we had three daughters. Gina now lives in California and has two children. Kathryn and her husband Andrew have a daughter. Claire and her husband Billy live in Wheaton and have three kids.

“When I started having kids, I chose to stick with my two favorite sports football and baseball and dropped basketball.”

After three years of assisting John Fippinger as the offensive coordinator for the varsity football team, Vicini was hired as the head coach in 1984.

Laughter happens again as Vicini thinks about his first three seasons.

“In football, my first three years were not very successful. We went 3-6, 1-8 and 0-9,” Vicini snickers. “I give a lot of credit to my 1987 football team because the seniors that came back from an 0-9 year in 1986 were the first team I had that made the playoffs.

“We finished 7-2 and won the first playoff game against Prairie Central and lost to Mendota in the second round. The 1987 football team started it all. After that, it was the fact everyone just wanted to be part of Hall football. When it catches fire, it catches fire.”

Vicini and the Red Devils made the playoffs 20 times in his 25 seasons at the helm and advanced to the IHSA Class 3A state championship game three times and won state titles in 1995 and 2001 with a runner-up finish in 1996.

“Twenty-five years as a head coach is a long time,” Vicini said. “Over my years – 1984-2009 – there was quite a change. But overall, the kids don’t change. The coaches have to adjust to the kids a little bit. I had a great coaching

See Vicini Page 36

CONGRATULATIONS HALL COACHES Gary Vicini and Richard Nesti

ON YOUR HALL OF FAME INDUCTION! You have made our community proud.

City of Spring Valley

staff throughout my career. Everyone made a great effort to contribute. It was just a fantastic 25 years.

“I think of that 1995 state championship game when we were 10 points down with a little over two minutes to go. I think some people had left for Spring Valley thinking that the game was over, but we came back and won. When the bus came back into Spring Valley over Rt. 89, it was just an awesome sight. It was unbelievable. St. Bede won a baseball state championship but, for football, Hall was the first team to win a state championship in the Illinois Valley. For Spring Valley itself and the surrounding communities, it was just an awesome sight coming into town that night.”

The championship seasons are always memorable, but so are the teams that battled adversity.

Hall’s 1987 team sticks out because it broke the mold of losing seasons, but the 1989 Red Devils laid the blueprint of grit, grind and never give up.

“The 1989 football team really stands out,” Vicini said. “We were 1-3 and on the verge of not making the playoffs. We played Kewanee and beat them 22-21. We then went on to an eight- or nine-game win streak and got all the way to the semifinals where we lost to Kaneland.

“P.J. Fleck (wide receiver for Northern Illinois University and the San Francisco 49ers, and now the head football coach at the University of Minnesota) was on that Kaneland team and they defeated us at home. We had a great football team and there are a lot of great memories. That season was a lot of fun for the coaches and a lot of fun for the players.”

Vicini coached the Hall baseball team from 1977-93 and won three regional titles in 1987, 1989 and 1990.

If you ask him, he simply had the pitchers to win games.

“In baseball, we had Tom Yerly and John Thompson in the 1980s,” Vicini said. “Back then there was not a pitch count, and you just made a run with a couple of pitchers back when I coached baseball.”

Vicini is a member of three halls of fame and – with his induction into the NewsTribune’s Illinois Valley Hall of Fame Class of 2022 – he is at an iconic status of four HOF entries.

Students currently walking the Hall hallways may not know Vicini’s resume, but the state championship tags on the scoreboard, the trophy case, the record books and players and coaches who were on the gridiron or in the dugout with Vicini know exactly what this man did for Hall and Illinois Valley athletics.

“I guess longevity speaks for itself,” Vicini said. “Being inducted into this hall of fame is great. There are so many athletes, way before I coached in the Illinois Valley, that deserve to be in here. To be included in this class and in the Illinois Valley Hall of Fame is a great honor. I know there are a lot of athletes, teams and individuals that are very welcomed into this Hall of Fame.

“Longevity has its value. It’s a great honor and I’m appreciative of it.”

Congrats

To the Class of 2022!

Photo from June 2019 Illinois Valley Sports Hall of Fame Inaugural Banquet

Nick Guerrini and other members of the 1995 Hall High School Football Team accept their 2019 IV Sports Hall of Fame induction plaque from emcee Lanny Slevin.

FILE PHOTO