{"id":439264,"date":"2026-09-17T22:18:27","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T22:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/439264\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T22:18:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T22:18:27","slug":"phil-lochirco-leaves-behind-legacy-of-service-at-yorkville-plano-shaw-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/439264\/","title":{"rendered":"Phil LoChirco leaves behind legacy of service at Yorkville, Plano \u2013 Shaw Local"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chris Galloway was a 15-year-old sophomore at Yorkville<\/a> High School when he met his best friend.<\/p>\n

Phil LoChirco was a year younger than Galloway \u2014 and, at the time, considerably smaller.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just remember in the hallways being like \u2018you\u2019ve got to come to the weight room, because you\u2019re a little too small to play varsity football,\u2019\u201d Galloway said. \u201cAnd he was like, \u2018Oh, whatever, Galloway.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

As it turned out, LoChirco didn\u2019t stay small for long.<\/p>\n

By junior year, he was 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds. He made varsity in time for Galloway\u2019s senior year in 2017, giving them their lone season together as varsity linebackers.<\/p>\n

When Galloway looks back on that season, one in which the Foxes struggled to a 2-7 record, there isn\u2019t a favorite play that comes to mind.<\/p>\n

Instead, it\u2019s a moment between plays during a Week 5 loss to Morris.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was cramping like a little baby, and I couldn\u2019t get off the ground,\u201d Galloway said. \u201cHe ran over from the other side of the field and was the one that came to pick me up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Yorkville's<\/p>\n

Yorkville’s Philip LoChirco (right) helps up teammate Chris Galloway during a 2017 football game between Yorkville and Morris in Yorkville. (Photo provided by Chris Galloway)<\/p>\n

One photograph captured that seemingly simple gesture between teammates. But Galloway, now an assistant coach for the Foxes, said it captured something much deeper.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always said that picture embodies who he was as a man,\u201d Galloway said. \u201cThe fact that no matter what the situation was or where he was, he was always going to be the one that ran over to help you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which made the news of LoChirco\u2019s untimely death hard to stomach.<\/p>\n

LoChirco, along with his former college teammate Jalen Shaffer, drowned June 13<\/a> in Lake Michigan while visiting Port Sheldon Township, Michigan. He was 24 years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just hits you like a punch in the stomach,\u201d Yorkville coach Dan McGuire said. \u201cObviously, it\u2019s a tremendous loss. But then you think about people like Chris and other kids \u2014 it\u2019s such a ripple effect. I think from my vantage point, you see how it can just impact so many people with a kid like Phil that has touched so many lives…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018They bought into him\u2019<\/p>\n

After graduating from Yorkville in 2019, LoChirco continued his playing career at nearby Wheaton College.<\/p>\n

Even while playing college ball, he found his way back to his alma mater.<\/p>\n

LoChirco, along with Galloway, spent many summers working with Yorkville athletes in the weight room. His transition from player to mentor, McGuire said, was seamless.<\/p>\n

Can\u2019t thank Chris and Phil enough for coming back to help our program this summer. Great role models for our team. I am lucky to have coached them and call them friends! pic.twitter.com\/7n7tI4QOxl<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Dan McGuire (@CoachDanMcGuire) July 31, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe was just as good working with kids as an adult as he was as a player,\u201d McGuire said.<\/p>\n

McGuire had hoped to bring LoChirco onto his coaching staff, but the dots never connected \u2014 a missed opportunity that still sticks with the coaching veteran of nearly two decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say that\u2019s probably my biggest regret,\u201d McGuire said. \u201cYou could tell he wanted to coach, so I never could get him on our staff, for whatever reason. But I thought he would be a great coach, and he was a great coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

LoChirco took his first official step into the coaching world in 2023, when he was hired at Plano<\/a> to serve as the junior varsity defensive coordinator.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long for Kyle Vestal, the Reapers\u2019 JV head coach that season, to notice the \u201cball of energy\u201d he had working under him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a young kid that was learning how to coach, but he was super passionate, extremely passionate,\u201d Vestal said. \u201cAnd the kids fed off his energy. They bought into him, everything he said and believed in. They knew he was genuine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Come LoChirco\u2019s second season in 2024, his defense had picked up steam. The Reapers went 5-4 and allowed just nine points per game while recording eight sacks, seven fumble recoveries and 11 interceptions.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The 2024 Plano junior varsity football team poses for a team photo. Assistant coach Phil LoChirco stands on the third row, fourth from left. (Photo provided by Greg Gould)<\/p>\n

But if a player scored a touchdown on defense, LoChirco rewarded them handsomely with a homemade creation.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe would make a Chirc sub for any of the guys, and I remember he brought it in during the kids\u2019 lunch time, because he was subbing with us at school,\u201d said Michael Moderhack, who took over for Vestal as Plano\u2019s JV coach in 2024. \u201cHe delivered it. It was great. He was awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

LoChirco left Plano after the 2024 season, later taking an assistant role at Wheaton Academy, a private Christian school in West Chicago.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were blessed to be able to share the field with him and coach next to him,\u201d Moderhack said. \u201cAnd these kids were blessed to have been coached by him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018You will restore me\u2019<\/p>\n

Galloway and McGuire don\u2019t agree on which of the two coaches conceived the idea of honoring LoChirco with a helmet sticker.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the Foxes are wearing one this season.<\/p>\n

Each player\u2019s helmet bears a black-and-red sticker with LoChirco\u2019s name, the No. 51 he wore at Yorkville and the words, \u201cYou will restore me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sticker was designed by LoChirco\u2019s family, including parents Philip and Kenia, wife Emily and siblings Isabella and Giovan.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing it on our kids\u2019 helmets, for me, means the world to me,\u201d Galloway said. \u201cI know it means the world to the family, and I think it says something to our players, too. He served our kids for years, so a lot of our kids know him or have met him before, and it just gives us that reminder that tomorrow\u2019s not promised, so what you do today is what matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yorkville honored LoChirco before its season opener on Aug. 21, with his parents and wife serving as guest captains. The Foxes went on to beat Crete-Monee 25-15.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pictures are the best, because you see his parents are smiling, his family is smiling,\u201d Galloway said. \u201cMrs. LoChirco gave me a hug and said, \u2018We won the game for Phil,\u2019 and even our players on the sideline were saying, \u2018we\u2019ve got to win the game for Phil.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Phil<\/p>\n

Phil LoChirco’s family, from left, father Philip, wife Emily, mother Kenia, sister Isabella and brother Giovan pose for a photo during a pregame ceremony honoring LoChirco on Aug. 21, 2026, in Yorkville. (Photo provided by Chris Galloway)<\/p>\n

The late LoChirco, McGuire muses, may have even helped his old coach one more time that night.<\/p>\n

\u2018He saved me on a bad call\u2019<\/p>\n

As other games around the area were being cancelled or postponed due to bad weather, Yorkville got its game in.<\/p>\n

Then came a pivotal moment.<\/p>\n

Facing third-and-2 with 11:52 left in the fourth quarter and Yorkville leading 22-15, McGuire thought he\u2019d called a bad play.<\/p>\n

Just then, the game was stopped for a lightning delay. The roughly 30-minute pause gave the Foxes time to regroup and draw up a better play.<\/p>\n

We won the game for Phil.<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Kenia LoChirco<\/p>\n

\u201cWith my luck, it usually happens after a bad play, and you\u2019re like \u2018I wish that would have happened before the play,\u2019\u201d McGuire said.<\/p>\n

When the teams returned to the field, there was neither rain nor thunder, and the Foxes converted the third down and rode that momentum to victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just think about what are the odds of that happening?\u201d McGuire said. \u201cWhatever you believe in, it\u2019s just crazy to think how things like that will work out … It\u2019s just crazy how we got the game in, first of all, and then that he saved me on a bad call.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because, in the end, that\u2019s who Phil LoChirco always was. <\/p>\n

Beneath his larger-than-life physique and the goofy, quirky personality that made him beloved by many, Phil had a servant\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n

\"Philip<\/p>\n

Philip LoChirco and his wife Emily were married in August 2025. LoChirco, a former football player at Yorkville High School and Wheaton College, drowned June 13, 2026, in Ottawa County, Michigan, along with fellow former Wheaton football player Jalen Shaffer. (Photo provided by Hultgren Funeral Homes)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not a single person that Phil met that would say he didn\u2019t try to serve them to the best of his ability,\u201d Galloway said. \u201cHe always used to say that he lived a life on a mission to have a sacrificial servant love towards every single person he meets \u2014 no matter their status, no matter who they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the one person in life that could oversee any wrongdoing and love you unconditionally, and I know that\u2019s a legacy that I\u2019ll never forget.\u201d<\/p>\n