Aging gracefully: Former NFL player LaCosse beginning second career back home in Naperville

Matt LaCosse does not like down time.

“I don’t sit around well,” he said.

Soon after the Naperville North graduate retired from the New England Patriots in July 2022, ending a seven-year NFL career as a tight end, he sought his next opportunity.

Later that year he bought into a franchise of Alloy Personal Training, a fitness training company started in 1992 based in Georgia.

Developing the 1,700-square-foot gym and its staff, then marketing it in the last quarter of 2023, LaCosse’s Alloy Personal Training center, 1504 N. Naper Blvd., in Naperville is the company’s first franchise in Illinois.

He satisfied a long-held dream of opening a business in his hometown.

After a soft opening Jan. 15 to members who’d signed up through his marketing efforts, Alloy Personal Training’s grand opening will be Monday.

Using free weights, kettle bells, bands and cables — no machines or treadmills — Alloy stresses functional strength in a small-group setting with a trainer.

“Fitness obviously is something that’s been a huge part of my life, and when I was originally thinking about a gym, people thought I’d open up a high-performance gym for college and high school athletes,” LaCosse said.

“But number one, a lot of places in Naperville do a really nice job of that. And number two, I’ve done that my whole life and that’s not really the phase of life I’m in right now. The phase of life I’m in right now is aches and pains and the injuries I’ve had,” he said.

At Naperville North, the 6-foot-6 LaCosse played quarterback, a dual threat who led the Huskies to the Class 8A quarterfinals his senior year in 2010.

At the University of Illinois he converted to tight end, the position he played for the New York Giants, Denver Broncos and Patriots from 2015-21.

In 34 games LaCosse caught 40 passes for 403 yards and 2 touchdowns, according to Pro Football Reference.

He started 8 games with New England in 2019, though his biggest numbers came in 2018 with Denver: 24 catches for 250 yards.

LaCosse also collected injuries, including the 2022 training camp concussion that made him reassess things.

“I still wanted be able to play with my kids. I retired for my own personal health,” said LaCosse, who with his wife, Jessica, has two children, 1 and 3 years old.

“I’ve had seven surgeries, so it’s a lot of that and me wanting to still lose my playing weight and make sure I’m good for my kids as I get older, that I’m still able to move and play with my kids.

“I call it aging gracefully. That’s probably where my passion came from for this gym and for my clients as well.”

Potential clients are evaluated based on their health history and fitness goals and are put through a light assessment to discover how best Alloy can reach their goals. The Alloy exercise program is especially beneficial to people over 40, LaCosse said.

LaCosse’s director of training is Mike Wojciechowski, with additional trainers Jamie Eischen and Justin Grimes.

It’s a small staff, but LaCosse likes it that way to maintain a personal touch. He said about 85 people have signed up so far, and he hopes to bring that number to around 120 by February.

“It’s all about creating a quality product,” he said. “We can get in trouble by growing too fast, so we want to make sure we’re growing it appropriately.”

On the other hand, LaCosse found Alloy’s north-side Naperville building the way he usually likes to do things — quickly, no down time.

“The day I started looking was the day it first came on the market,” LaCosse said. “I guess it was just meant to be.”

Bob Frisk’s legacy as a reporter and sports editor with the Daily Herald surpasses his 50-year career, as well as his death in 2020 at age 83.

It’ll again be proven Feb. 2 when the District 214 Education Foundation, based in Arlington Heights where Frisk lived and attended high school, will formally announce the Bob Frisk Legacy Fund.

There will be a presentation of a $22,000 check to seed the fund at halftime of the 7:30 p.m. boys basketball game between Hersey at Prospect.

A Prospect alumnus had donated money to the Education Foundation in honor of Frisk, which spurred a larger campaign throughout 2020 that netted more than 50 donors, said Tom Munz, District 214 Education Foundation board chairman.

“The main focus is to thank all these donors and do one additional recognition of Bob’s phenomenal career,“ Munz said.

The Daily Herald’s Stu Paddock III is an officer on the foundation’s board, and the Daily Herald’s Lori Urbaniec is a trustee.

The plan for the Bob Frisk Legacy Fund is to use current and ongoing donations to the fund to help journalism students and others in District 214, Munz said.

“We’re going to leave it to the educators to decide the best effective use of the money,” he said.

A link, 214foundation.org/success-funds, will send viewers to District 214 Education Foundation campaigns that include the Bob Frisk Legacy Fund.

After Prospect’s 75-71 double-overtime win at Hersey on Jan. 22, Munz said the Mt. Prospect gym should be jumping on Friday.

Bob Frisk would have loved it, Munz said.

Good luck

The 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for marathon will be held Saturday in and around downtown Orlando.

The top three male and female finishers will qualify to run in the Olympics in Paris this summer.

Among the 131 women, those from the suburbs include Hailey Bowes (Hersey), Kaylee Flanagan and sister Lindsay Flanagan (Lake Park), and Britney (Whitehead) Romero (Larkin).

Among the 169 men are Kevin Havel (Hersey), Tyler Jermann (Naperville North), Travis Morrison (Schaumburg) and Kevin Salvano (Buffalo Grove).

doberhelman@dailyherald.com