St. Emily honors athletic director

Mount Prospect’s St. Emily School twice honored retiring Athletic Director Vic Rose Friday for his 35 years of volunteerism by dedicating to him the gym floor he helped raise money to build a few years ago.

A morning ceremony at a school assembly for students was to be followed by the main event from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday for a larger group of alumni and community members.

Rose was already coaching basketball at St. Raymond School in Mount Prospect when friends at St. Emily asked him to become the athletic director there in 1974.

St. Emily gym teacher Jon Palicki said Rose has become both a fixture and a legend at the school through his decades of selfless service.

“And he’s not been paid a dime,” Palicki said. “This was all as a volunteer.”

In addition to his coaching duties at St. Emily, Rose was also instrumental in creating the Northwest Catholic Conference in which the Catholic elementary schools of the Northwest suburbs compete. He’s been involved with other Mount Prospect sports programs as well for about as long.

“I’ve coached for a long time and I’ve loved every minute of it,” Rose said Friday.

He said there has been a change in kids over the 35 years. Many students today try to get involved in too many sports and activities, in his opinion, which lowers their commitment to any one of them.

Parents who see these activities as mere baby-sitting opportunities may be missing the point of them, he said.

Nevertheless, Rose feels it’s important for kids today to be involved with something that takes them away from the modern-day temptations of TV and texting.

After serving in the military from 1964 to 1966, the now 69-year-old Rose worked as a lead computer operator at United Airlines for 36 years. Since his retirement in 2002, he has worked at Mighty Mites.

He began his long coaching career at the young age of 14, when he began working with a Little League team. At 20, he became the youngest president of park district baseball in the country.

As he nears retirement from these duties, he notes that he has been a Mount Prospect baseball coach for 39 years, a football coach for 36 years and a basketball coach for 48 years.

While he expects to still be around, he announced his retirement last year with the intention of spending more time at his home in Wisconsin.

Rose said he’s pleased by the St. Emily community’s decision to name after him the gym floor he worked so hard to raise money for.

“I’m so proud of it,” he said.