Rick Lasky was born in Chicago but attended Lyons Township High School in LaGrange where he wrestled and played baseball, earning all-conference honors his senior year. After graduation from high school, Rick played in a Senior Babe Ruth Summer League in Brookfield and after winning the State Championship was playing in the Regional Tournament in East Lansing, Michigan when Dave Dombrowski, Farm System Administrator and scout for the Chicago White Sox, discovered him. Dombrowski invited him to spring training in 1980. Rick met Ron Kittle on the plane ride to Sarasota and the two became roommates during spring training. After negotiations with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City Royals didn’t pan out, Rick left professional baseball. He started as a Police/ Fire Communications Officer for the Justice Police Department, served as a Police Officer in Willow Springs and became a Firefighter Paramedic in Bedford Park. Rick worked his way up through the ranks in the fire service retiring in September of 2011 as Fire Chief of the Lewisville, Texas Fire Department and is proud of his work with his friend John Travolta on the movie “Ladder 49.” He began playing softball for the Ghost Riders in the Woodridge Park District and very shortly after began playing for Ledo’s Touch of Class (Hodgkins Park District), playing for Coach Ron Kubicki for several years. He then moved to the Barrel of Fun (Worth Park District) and then to Sports Station (Mt. Greenwood and Kelly Parks). He was selected as a Second Team All-American in the 1984 national championship, was a member of the South All-Star Team from 1985 to 1988, and was a member of the 1987 All-American Team, the year Sports Station won the ASA National title. Rick played 1st base, 3rd base, and catcher. He was known as one of the top long-ball hitters of the game. In his 18-years career, he hit over 150 homeruns and drove in over 400 runners. During the Berwyn Tournament in 1986, he hit a homerun that bounced into the concession stand window. It shattered a mustard container and scattered the concession stand workers. He once hit three homeruns in a tournament in Racine, Wisconsin while playing for Ledo’s Touch of Class. But his most memorable homer might have been the one he hit off Mike Tallo (HOF) that won the Harvey Metro Tournament and put Barrel of Fun into the Nationals. Rick and his wife, Jami, live just north of Dallas in Lewisville, Texas. They have two children, Rick a US Navy Corpsman attached to the Marines, and Emily an All-Conference high school softball player who will be attending The University of Incarnate Word in San Antonio on a softball scholarship. Although retired as fire chief, Rick is a nationally recognized and highly sought-after author and speaker on leadership, fire safety and education.
