By Tom Robinson, NEPABasketball.com
Tom Gatto last coached Old Forge girls basketball at the Giant Center in Hershey in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association championship game in 2014, the first of two straight appearances by the team in the Class A state final.
If the Lady Devils are able to compete this winter, Gatto is expected to be the one leading the way.
Gatto was approved as a volunteer coach at the late November Old Forge School Board meeting, positioning him to run the team this season.
Ron Stacchiotti, who took over following Gatto’s two-decade run in charge of the program, is undergoing treatments for cancer.
Gatto will lead the team on an interim basis and Ed Breig will remain as the assistant coach.
Old Forge is one of the District 2 teams which has not yet conducted any official practices.
Just days into a two-week delay to the start of official practices by Lackawanna Interscholastic Athletic Association member schools, the Old Forge School Board decided to suspend extracurricular activities until January. Since then, Gov. Tom Wolf has ordered a three-week suspension of scholastic sports activities until Jan. 4.
“We did some volunteer running before we shut down in November,” said Gatto, who was approved for his coaching return at the same meeting. “I was only with them for about six days.”
Old Forge would need Wolf to lift what he called a “temporary” suspension of sports statewide and its school board to approve a return to activity. At that point, the Lady Devils would need to conduct 15 practices to complete their preseason and become eligible to compete.
A year ago, Old Forge was one of four District 2 girls teams still alive when the state tournament was stopped in the quarterfinal round during the first steps of school sports being impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
When Olivia Ciullo, a returning 1,000-point scorer who is expected to lead this season’s team, received all-state recognition last season, Stacchiotti gave some of the credit to Gatto’s volunteer efforts working with Ciullo.
“Every now and then, I’d stop up and help out,” Gatto said. “I tried to stay around. It gave me something to do.”
Old Forge returns three starters from its District 2 Class 2A championship team.
