Original Fermi Baseball Coach Gene Ryczek Dies

ENFIELD, CT — Gene Ryczek, the original baseball coach at Enrico Fermi High School who coached two sports for more than two decades each, passed away Saturday following a long illness. He was 74.

Ryczek was a mathematics teacher during his career, which spanned more than four decades. At Enfield High School, he served as assistant baseball coach under Bob Bromage until Fermi opened in 1971, at which time he moved to the new high school and started the baseball program. Enfield and Fermi became rivals in the now-defunct Central Connecticut Interscholastic Conference.

"Gene was a tough but fair disciplinarian, he was extremely conscientious as a coach and he held people to standards," recalled Bromage, who coached baseball for 54 years at Enfield and East Granby high schools. "I'd take an assistant like Gene Ryczek any day."

To register for free Enfield news alerts and more, click here.

The Falcons enjoyed success right out of the gate, posting records of 9-7 and 11-4 in their first two seasons. Two of Ryczek's players from the 1970s were selected in the Major League Baseball draft: Ken Bourque, Class of 1973, was chosen in the 20th round by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1973, and Bill Peltola, Class of 1977, was drafted in the 19th round in 1980 by the Milwaukee Brewers.

Baseball had always been Ryczek's passion, dating to his scholastic days at Chicopee High School, where he was a member of teams that won three straight state titles from 1961 to 1963. That "dynasty group" was inducted into the Western Massachusetts Baseball Hall of Fame in 2016.

John Mayo, a 2013 inductee into the Enfield Athletic Hall of Famer, got to know Ryczek from three different perspectives: as a player, coach and parent. He played baseball at Fermi, graduating in 1976, then after college, he served as assistant baseball coach under his mentor for 12 years. He later coached Ryczek's son Kevin at Longmeadow High School.

"He was a great baseball guy, a private guy but great when you got to know him," Mayo said. "In my senior year of 1976, we were 14-7 and four of those losses were by only one run. It was probably the most talented team Gene ever had."

Another former player, 1983 graduate Mike Cotnoir, is chairman of the Enfield Athletic Hall of Fame, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this fall.

"Mr. Ryczek was a fine teacher and coach, who always tried to teach us the right way to win," Cotnoir said. "I still recall my senior year’s last baseball game was canceled due to an extremely small chance of a passing shower, while we were on the bus ready to travel to Simsbury. Coach was inside arguing with the league and AD, pleading with them to let us leave and play. The Journal Inquirer wrote a big article about the travesty the next day, with Coach expressing his anger and disappointment for his players. Our team never forgot that day. If we won that game, we would have made the state tournament. Our hopes and dreams were broken that day, but we saw true leadership from a coach who loved his players and believed in their abilities. "

In addition to baseball, Ryczek assumed the helm of the Fermi cross country program in 1975 and stayed on through 1995. He also coached girls basketball from 1980 to 1986, leading the 1983-84 team to a 12-6 regular season record and the No. 7 seed in the Class LL state tournament.

JoAnne Cardell came on board as the Falcons' girls cross country coach for about 10 years, beginning in the 1980s.

"He really was a special guy; it was my first coaching job as a head coach," she said. "Because of the nature of the sport we work together, we usually practice together, rode on the bus to the meets and celebrate it together. Not only did he teach me the ins and outs of the sport of cross country/running, he really taught me how to be a “coach.” I will be forever grateful to him for that."

John Gallagher, a champion runner for Fermi in the early 1980s who went on to Villanova University, said, "Being coached by Gene Ryczek was a wonderful experience. He cared for the people he coached and took a genuine interest in them. He had a dry sense of humor and a wry quick wit that came when you were least expecting it. I still remember some of the funny things he said to me almost 40 years later."

Retired Fermi teacher Ray LaFlamme initially was a rival to Ryczek, graduating in 1963 from Holyoke High School, then eventually worked with him in the math department at Fermi for more than 20 years.

"After taking different paths, we both ended up in Enfield," LaFlamme said. "In 1980, I went to Fermi and got to know Gene as we were both math teachers. I would often seek Gene's help when I was coaching my son's Little League team. I never met a guy so willing to help you with anything that was needed. You didn't even have to ask. Gene was there for you. We became good friends in and out of school. Gene was a demanding coach and teacher. He was "old school" in a lot of ways, but always fair and compassionate. He would request a class of the toughest students and also a class of the gifted students each year. He did an outstanding job with both. Not many teachers can excel at both ends of the spectrum like Gene did."

Ryczek was married to his wife Mary for 51 years. He is also survived by his children, Kevin and Kara, five grandchildren and a host of other relatives. Funeral services will be held privately, with Forastiere Smith Family Funeral Home handling arrangements.