Loconsole loses battle with cancer
Mike Loconsole, a Glen Ellyn resident, father of two, and one of the architects of Driscoll's football dynasty, died Wednesday morning at Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village.
"I wouldn't be the coach I am without him. That's for sure," said Tim Racki, the former Driscoll coach now at Nazareth.
"He's the soul of Driscoll football. He always was. He and Gene Nudo," Racki said.
Nudo, with Loconsole as an assistant, took over the Driscoll program in 1989. Two years later the Highlanders won the first of seven state championships.
Announcing Loconsole's death on a message board on the EdgyTim.com Web site, Nudo wrote, "Most of all Mike cared about the kids, not just the ones that were great players, but he took more pride in the 'marginal' athletes that he developed into better players and later in life great young men."
Without Nudo the offensive tactician known as "Loci" guided the young brain trust of Racki and current Driscoll coach Mike Burzawa, first on underclass and then varsity levels.
That arrangement led Driscoll to state titles from 2001-2004, and in 2005-06 with Burzawa as head coach.
Loconsole, a real estate agent by profession, first suffered serious health problems in 2005 when diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma. Despite a 2006 bone marrow transplant from one of his eight siblings, he never regained complete health. Most recently he was admitted into the hospital with pneumonia on Oct. 27.
"He's been fighting like a warrior the last three years. … What he's gone through and been through has been an inspiration to all of us," Burzawa said.
Loconsole leaves behind wife Maripat and daughters Kim and Jennifer, students at Glenbard South.
A wake will be held from 3-9 p.m. Friday at Williams-Kampp Funeral Home, 430 E. Roosevelt Road, Wheaton. Prayers will be said at 9:15 a.m. Saturday followed by a procession to St. James the Apostle, Glen Ellyn. Interment will be private.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Lieukemia & Lymphoma Society, Donor Services, P.O. Box 4072, Pittsfield, Mass., 01202.