Reddic was coach, mentor to thousands
His influence ran beyond Children’s Sports League
Robert Reddic Jr., raised in a family of 13 children, went on to nurture a much larger family through his work as a football coach, mentor and father figure to thousands of children in the city’s Neighborhood Children’s Sports League.
“Thousands is an underestimate,” said Reddic’s fellow coach and longtime friend, Earl Ingram Jr.
Reddic died Sept. 17 after battling cancer. He was 60.
While some of Reddic’s players went on to the NFL, including Marwin Evans, a safety with the Green Bay Packers, Ingram stressed that the coach’s influence extended beyond athletics. “Bob Reddic was not only a coach. He was a teacher. He was a father figure, and many of these boys didn’t have fathers.
“Hundreds of young men he coached have gone on to universities and have just become better people.”
Reddic grew up in the shadow of the A.O. Smith plant. He was especially close to his older brother, Dwight Cobb.
“We were 10 months apart, like twins,” Cobb said. “You see one, you see the other. We were closer than close.”
From an early age he enjoyed pickup games of football, basketball and baseball. He went to Parkman Middle School, then Rufus King High School.
After high school, Reddic became a metal casting teacher at Milwaukee Area Technical College. But his teaching continued outside the classroom in the Neighborhood Children’s Sports League, his passion.
“Aw, man, he was an excellent motivator. Excellent,” said Cobb, who became an assistant coach because his brother asked him to. “He was hardnosed. He wanted everything right for the kids.”
Reddic cut an imposing figure, about 6-foot-3 and 270 pounds, Cobb estimated.
What Coach Reddic was most hard-nosed about was school.
“He taught them education first,” said Cobb. “If the report card wasn’t right, you couldn’t play. He didn’t care how good you were.”
“Things you had to do for Bob Reddic,” Ingram said, “were improve your grades, and change your attitude and demeanor at school and at home. Bob knew football was a tool. Used properly, you could transform young boys into men.”
Cobb said his brother met his wife, Cheryl Reddic, playing pool about 35 years ago. They raised four children.
“They were devoted to each other, two peas in a pod,” Cobb said.
Reddic’s funeral was Saturday.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by four children; Delischa Reddic, Robert Reddic III (Star Christian), Jose (Gina) Cruz and Carmaletia Cruz; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.