Basketball helps coach persevere

For every Blackhawk High School girls basketball game, two chairs are empty on the team bench, with two Blackhawk coaches shirts draped on the back of the chairs.

And there is one big empty spot in Steve Lodovico’s heart.

Lodovico is Blackhawk’s highly successful coach, a man who has won three WPIAL titles, two PIAA championships and is only four wins away from 300 for his 16-year career.

But it’s what Lodovico has lost over the past few months that has created a hollow feeling in the 43year-old Lodovico.

“To be honest, it’s been a nightmare,” Lodovico said.

Lodovico’s story is one of a coach who is suddenly missing two of the most important people in his life who were taken away by cancer. But Lodovico’s story also is one about rebounding — in the game of life. And basketball and coaching is helping him cope.

In November, Lodovico lost one assistant coach when Bob Amalia died of cancer. Lodovico called Amalia, “basically, one of my best friends.” Amalia had known Lodovico ever since he was an assistant boys coach at Blackhawk during Lodovico’s playing days in the 1990s. Amalia had been Lodovico’s coach for six seasons and both of Amalia’s daughters played for Lodovico. Amalia also was wellknown as one of the most successful head baseball coaches in WPIAL history.

Then, 2½ months after Amalia passed away, Lodovico lost another assistant coach. This one was his father, Mike, who died of cancer Jan. 27, two days shy of his 69th birthday. Dad had been an assistant coach for his son for four seasons. Mike Lodovico was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in August of 2019 and tried to still coach this season while undergoing treatments, but he was able to only make it to Blackhawk’s first game Jan. 9 against Sewickley Academy. Less than three weeks later, he was gone.

If you don’t feel for Steve Lodovico, then you don’t have feelings.

“Basketball, you always say, is an outlet, a time you can forget about everything,” Steve Lodovico said. “But honestly, it’s not easy. We put those two shirts on the bench for my dad and Bob, just as a reminder of what they meant to the program. But sometimes I just look over at those chairs and it’s just an empty feeling.”

Steve Lodovico was an excellent basketball player himself at Blackhawk, winning two consecutive state championships while playing for legendary coach John Miller in the 1990s. Lodovico then got into coaching, but on the girls side. His dad eventually became part of the son’s staff.

“Basketball was a passion we both had,” Lodovico said. “When I think about my dad, basketball was the bond we had my whole life. It’s the area we had most in common. It’s what we liked to talk about the most. Obviously, I loved coaching with him so much.”

During his 16-year career, Lodovico has missed only two games. The first was a PIAA first-round playoff game in 2017, only a few days after his mother passed away. The second was this season against Beaver on Jan. 28, one day after his father’s passing.

Lodovico, married and the father of three children, admits it was awfully difficult to return to coaching a few weeks ago.

“Even when I went back, I thought maybe it was too soon,” said Lodovico, who has a 296-122 career record. “Mentally, I don’t know if I was ready to be a leader because of everything I was going through. But I had to think about the girls on the team and what they went through, too. I had to be there for them. Not only did I lose two people that were so close to me, but

they lost two people, two coaches as well.

“You throw COVID-19 in there with everything else, and it’s been a year like no other. Just what the girls have had to endure, too. It feels like the whole year has been a blur.”

But while Lodovico once questioned whether he had it in him to coach basketball the rest of this season after his father’s death, there is also the fact that basketball — and his players — have played a role in lifting his spirits and helping heal the pain some.

The WPIAL playoffs begin this weekend and Blackhawk (11-5) plays its first-round game at home Tuesday against Highlands. While Lodovico can get a little emotional talking about his father and Amalia, you can hear a certain sense of excitement in his voice when you mention the WPIAL playoffs. Blackhawk played Beaver Monday night and lost on a last-second 3-pointer. Beaver is undefeated and the No. 1 seed for the Class 4A playoffs.

“We’re right there,” Lodovico said. “I really believe in these girls. We were just one play away from beating Beaver. This group is very, very young and they’ve grown up so much. Think of all the adversity they’ve been through and it’s really made them a strong unit together.

“That’s a big part of the game as a player and coach, just being around each other and building relationships that can go a long way.”

Somewhere, Mike Lodovico and Bob Amalia should be smiling.