Patrick E. Falbo, 60, of Forest Park, died March 19. He was the husband of Veronica and father of Brandi, Kari and Becky. He was also proud papa of many.
Patrick was very involved with the Forest Park Little League for over 25 years and was a former president of the association.
“Coach was a one of a kind type of guy. He was not passionate about winning. His passion was to teach us how to be better baseball players, and in turn we learned how to be better people,” said a former player, Steve Knysch. Knysch remembered a tournament trip to the Quad Cities where the outmatched team suffered a crushing defeat and later doused coach Falbo with a five-gallon bucket of ice water at the hotel.
“Coach opened the door, and we let him have it. He looked at us, smiled, laughed, and told us it was time for bed.”
“He never asked a lot out of us,” Knysch said. “He really only asked for three things. We needed to trust him in his ability to lead us. We needed to trust each other while we were out in the field. Finally, every time we stepped onto the diamond we needed to give it everything we had, but still keep it fun. As we all learned, baseball was just a game, but the memories would last a lifetime.” Services have been held.
