The high school baseball ranks lost one of its' best yesterday. After a tough 2-0 regional loss to Evanston, Tony Tichy of Niles North resigned.
Tony was an all conference player at Niles North. He went on to play D1 baseball, even playing in the College World Series.
Tony, who has two young daughters, resigned to spend more time with his family. Tony would be at school at 6:00AM and not go back home till after practice or games at 7:30 PM. Tony, who works at NN would spend literally hours a day grooming the field to make it as good as it could be for the players of both teams.
Tony ran camps and clinics, putting whatever proceeds there were back in to the program to provide the kids with the best uniforms and equipement possible. While he gave private lessons to top players such as Jimmy Risi and Sean Kennedy, he would not give private lessons to his own kids. Tony did not want players to feel they had to take lessons from him to play on the team. He also knew that it wan a no win situation. If you took lessons and played, it would be favoritism. If you didn't play, he would be called a lousy coach. Bottom line is the guy has integrity. He was in it for the kids, not the money.
Tony gave all the kids an opportunity to play themselves in or out of the lineup. He did not play favorites. You may have heard parents gripe, but you never heard it from the kids.
Tony will be missed.
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