(GEORGETOWN, Del.) - Coach Lou Nicoletti started the running program at Sussex Technical High School.
Now less than a year after his retirement, the Tech family honors his legacy with a 5k in his name. Runners took their mark Satuday morning on the very same course Coach Nic helped to create.
During his career of more than four decades Lou Nicoletti served as a Social Studies and History teacher as well as a track and cross country coach. He retired from Sussex Tech after the 2017-2018 school year.
Nicoletti coached Dontez Collins when he was a student. Collins later returned to tech as a Math teacher and eventually coached track and field alongside his mentor.
"Recently some things have happened that have caused him to retire with some health issues. So I wanted to put together a 5K run because that's what he liked to do, to honor his legacy and his dedication for coaching 40 years for running programs across the state of Delaware," says Collins.
Now Collins along with Tim Bamforth of the Seashore Striders coordinate the first ever Race for Coach Nic 5K.
Bamforth, who also coached alongside Nicoletti says his kids ran for Coach Nic and sometimes road with him to school. "He touched a lot of people, hundreds of kids he touched over the 40 years. I was fortunate to coach with him over the years and a lot of people are coming back to pay their respect," he says.
Some runners come from northern Delaware and take pride in a banner from when Coach Nic lead Del Castle Technical High School to the State Championship title in 1988.
Howard Laws says Nicoletti was his coach at DelCastle in the early 1980's and that he eventually coached alongside his mentor as well. "They actually auctioned off all the banners that the school had and all the kids that were on that championship team bidded on the banner and we actually donated it to Coach Nicoletti," he says.
When Coach Nic moved down to Sussex Tech, he was quick to touch lives here as well.
Andrew Boyle, who was Coach Nic's first runner at Sussex Tech says Nicoletti taught him and his daughters inside and outside of the classrrom. "This man has probably been the most influential male figure in my life," he says.
The closest of them all, Coach Nic's daughter, Isabella gives a speech before runners take their mark. She says her dad always used to say, "Run fast, don't come in last."
Isabella says, "It was really great to see his efforts as a student and as a runner on his team and in his classroom and see the way he effected my peers."
She knows her dad is proud of everyone he made second family. "To see so many people in support of him, I know he would be really touched by it," she says.
A scholarship has been started in Coach Nicoletti's name to be awarded to a Sussex Tech runner every year. Proceeds from the 5K will go towards that and they'll also be distributed between the cross country and track and field programs at Sussex Tech.