Craig Fallico
Class of 2012
Maine South
Craig Fallico attended Loyola Academy and Williams Bay High Schools where he was a three sport athlete, participating in football, wrestling and baseball. He attended Marquette University and began coaching soon after graduation in 1981.
Craig’s first coaching position was at Marist High School as an assistant varsity wrestling coach and head sophomore football coach. In 1982 he moved to Gordon Tech and began his thirty plus partnership with Coach Dennis McCann, an IWCOA Hall of Fame Member. As an assistant, he worked and drilled with the varsity wrestlers, helped recruit wrestlers from hallways and PE classes while adding a contagious brand of enthusiasm to the athletes of our great sport that still exists today. At Gordon Tech, his contributions helped establish numerous individual Catholic League champions, a regional championship squad, sever; state qualifiers and state medalists.
In 1987, along with Coach McCann, he moved to Maine South High School as full time teacher and assistant coach.
In 1997 Craig became Head Coach at Maine South and has continued the program success. Maine South wrestling has produced 10 Central Suburban League Championship teams, a handful of regional titles, dozens of state qualifiers and numerous state medal winners. His dual meet record is currently 268-88, for a .750 winning percentage. He was inducted into the Maine South Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010.
Craig has also been instrumental in the last decade of success for Illinois Freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. He has been a National Team Coach, a Director and personally sponsored our first Illinois Cadet National Dual Team in 2002. He has traveled throughout the country coaching, managing and supervising Cadet and Junior National teams. He has hosted tournaments, run tournaments, and even represented Illinois as an international style referee.
Coach Fallico is no stranger to kids wrestling, either. He helped to create IKWF Teams at Gordon Tech, helped coach the Rosemont Cobras along with fellow IWCOA Class of 2012 Hall of Fame inductee Don Morrissey and has been an assistant with the Maine Eagles. He has hosted and directed more than a dozen IKWF regional tournaments.
Craig’s passion and enthusiasm for the sport, his dedication to the athletes who he teaches and coaches, his competitive spirit, his commitment and work ethic are all respected and admired by everyone who knows him.
Craig and his wife Jennie have five children and have been married for 29 years. He is a fun (and demanding) teacher of Spanish at Maine South and a successful Real Estate Broker for 30 years.