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Category Archives: November 2024
Dunmorean of the Month: Rocco Riccardo
Rocco Riccardo retires after sale of family business
By Steve Svetovich
All good things come to an end.
Such is the case with Riccardo’s Market, 1219 Wheeler Avenue, in Dunmore..
Riccardo’s Market has been a staple in the Dunmore community for close to 100 years.
However, Riccardo’s final day of business was Wednesday, October 30, as store owner Rocco Riccardo retired after selling to Schiel’s Market, a Shursave supermarket chain that owns stores in Wilkes-Barre and Plains.
Riccardo, 61, Dunmore, is used to working 70 to 80 hours seven days a week and is ready for a rest.
“They know me very well at McDonald’s on the O’Neill Highway,” he said. “I am the first one there every morning for a coffee at 5:01 a.m. Then I head to the store to start my day. It’s a daily ritual seven days a week.
“I do a lot of different things at the store, including the maintenance. It’s all hands on. This is going to be a long-awaited vacation.”
There will be some renovations to the building this month as Schiel’s is slated to begin business December 1.
“My customers and employees mean a lot to me,” he said. “I had offers to sell before, but the deal had to include that all of my employees would be retained by the new company. Schiel’s agreed to that. We made that deal. So it’s good for me, good for the Schiel’s family and good for my employees and customers.”
Riccardo, the final owner and operator of the family business, has been a major part of the operation for the past 48 years.
There have been three locations in 100 years. The business has been owned by four generations of Riccardos.
Originally owned by his great-grandfather Salvatore Riccardo, the family-owned business originated in the early 1920’s.
“Our family dealt in produce back then,” said Riccardo, who will turn 62 in February. “Those were the horse-and-buggy days. We were hucksters.”
Riccardo’s original location was where DePietro’s Pharmacy stands today at 617 Third St., Dunmore.
In 1993, Rocco took over the family-owned business and bought the old Giant Market building on Blakely Street near the Dunmore police station and borough building. In 2008, Riccardo’s moved to its current location at 1219 Wheeler Ave., Dunmore.
Son of Betty and Salvatore Riccardo, Rocco has been working in the family business since he was 14.
“I used to go there right after school and on weekends. I worked there 40 hours a week when I was in high school.”
Rocco’s grandfather, also Rocco, took over the family business in the 1930’s. Eventually, Rocco’s dad Salvatore took over Riccardo’s Market. Rocco has been running the family business since 1993.
Rocco is married to the former Nancy Jennings. Their children have all been involved in the family business at one time or another. Those five children are Anna, 42; Sal, 41; Lexxus, 26, Elizabeth, 23, and Michael, 18. Michael was still working in the business up to its final day of operation.
The couple also has two grandchildren: Annalea, 8, and Aribella, 5.
Riccardo’s Market was open seven days a week, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Rocco said the Riccardo and DePietro families go back over 100 years. The two families used to be neighbors in the Bunker Hill section of Dunmore.
Rocco is a 1981 graduate of Bishop O’Hara in Dunmore. He also has a pilot’s license and studied welding at Johnson School of Technology. He once owned a plane.
“I loved working in this business everyday. I loved the customers and my great employees. I’ve seen three generations of customers. Some of my employees were with me 20 to 30 years. It’s going to be hard without my customers and employees. They are all like family to me. It’s tough to leave, but Schiel’s is going to be a nice fit for Dunmore,” Rocco says.
“My wife and I are going on a well-deserved vacation and then I want to spend more time with the family. My wife worked in the business, too. She did a lot in the greenhouse and with cooking. We want to spend a lot of time with our two grandchildren in Dover, PA.
“My dad and grandfather both died at 65. I thought it was time to retire now. I want to live to be 100. I want to enjoy my retirement.”
Well Dun: November 2024
Longtime Dunmore volleyball coach Susan Dempsey and former Penn State and Oakland Raiders quarterback Matt McGloin headed the 40th annual induction ceremony for the Northeastern Chapter of the Pennsylvania Chapter Sports Hall of Fame last month at Fiorelli’s, Peckville.
Other inductees included Jordan Hoyt Calvey for track and field; Joseph Dente as a baseball/softball official; Elizabeth McGowan for basketball; Gina Chieffallo Moreno for softball; Steven Pratico for football and track and field; James Tomcho for basketball/coach; Rick Muntean for the service award, and Chris Imperiale for the media award.
Former WBRE Eyewitness News sports director/sportscaster Phil Schoener served as toastmaster. The affable Schoener currently works as a broadcaster for the SportsFever TV Network, a syndicator of NCAA college sports to ESPN.
Bob Walsh, Dunmore, is president of the Northeastern Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. Mid Valley sports product Jerry Valonis is vice president. Judy Igoe Carr is secretary, and Tom “Doc” Dougherty is treasurer.
Other committee members include John Davies, Jerry Dempsey, Terry Greene, Rich Revta, and Chris Thomas.
The U.S. Marine Corps provided the Presentation of Colors. Msgr. Patrick J. Pratico, Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, provided Invocation and Benediction. The Fiorelli’s staff provided a cocktail hour and superb dinner buffet.
Sue Dempsey, Dunmore, was a volleyball standout at Cranford (NJ) High School School. She earned All-County honors in 1981 and then played at Seton Hall for one year before attending Marywood University and earning MVP honors for the Pacers in 1984.
She then became volleyball coach for Marywood and in four years (1992-96) won a PA Athletic Conference title and finished runner-up in 1992. She then headed to Abington Heights (1998-2001) and led the Lady Comets to their first District 2, Class 3A volleyball title in 2001.
She started the volleyball program at Dunmore in 2006 and guided the Lady Bucks to 10 Lackawanna League titles, two District 2 Class 1A championships and seven District 2 Class 2A runner-up finishes. The volleyball pioneer reached the 200 career-win milestone in 2018.
In her speech, she mentioned her late dad who passed away three weeks after she learned the news of her induction. She spoke of his constant words of encouragement throughout her life
“He taught me that if they say no, then you work harder until they say yes.”
Matt McGloin was a standout quarterback for West Scranton High School, where he threw for 5,485 yards and 58 touchdowns in his four years. He was a four-year starter in basketball, scoring 1,398 points. He was a three-year starter in baseball. He was named Times-Tribune Athlete of the Year in 2008.
McGloin attended Penn State as a walk-on, making the team and eventually earning the starting quarterback job. He threw for 6,390 career yards and a school-record 48 touchdown passes.
He went on to the NFL, playing four years with the Oakland Raiders (2013-16). He played quarterback in 13 games, including seven starts in 2013. He completed 161-of-277 passes for a 58.1 completion percentage, 1,868 yards and 11 touchdown passes. He threw 11 interceptions. He passed for 1,587 yards and eight touchdown passes in only seven games in 2013.
He was also on the rosters of the Philadelphia Eagles, Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs.
Jordan Hoyt Calvey is a former track and field standout at Abington Heights, where she won three District 2 titles in the 200 meters, and two district crowns in the 100 meters in 2010. She was Times-Tribune co-Athlete of the Year after winning the PIAA Class 3A championship in the 200 meters and finishing as state runner-up Class 3A in the 100 meters. She went on to the University of Pittsburgh, where she ran on the 800-meter relay team that set a school record in 2011 at the Texas Relays.
Joseph Dente has been a baseball and softball umpire for 49 years. He is a high school boys and girls basketball official for 43 years. He initiated a referee mentoring program to help new officials reach the varsity level. He umpired/officiated 25 Lsckawanna League District II championship games and worked 25 PIAA tournament contests.
Elizabeth McGowan finished with 1,582 points as a girls’ basketball player at Mid Valley High School. She won the Lackawanna Northern Division scoring title and was tournament MVP in the Jaycees-Falcons Cage Classic. She was a junior college All-American at Lackawanna Junior College and played two years at Old Dominion University, where she was a part of two Colonial Athletic Association titles and made two NCAA tournaments.
Gina Chieffallo Moreno had a highly impressive career pitching record of 59-2 as a softball player for Valley View. She was a perfect 41-0 in the Lackawanna League, with two perfect games, two no-hitters, 37 shutouts, 494 strikeouts and a 0.49 ERA. She helped the Cougars win the PIAA title in 2013. She was Times-Tribune Player of the Year in 2012 and 2013.
She was on the Times-Tribune All Regional Team in 2011, 2012 and 2013. In 2013, she was the MaxPreps Softball Medium schools All-American.
At Brown University, she was a four-year varsity softball player where she had an 8-5 record and 2.73 ERA. A team captain twice, she was a two-time National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-American Scholar Athlete.
Steven Pratico was a center and defensive end on the Valley View Cougars 1992 PIAA Class 2A title team. He was captain on the state title team. He was named by Coaches’ Magazine to the All-American Team in 1992. He was a member of the track team, winning the Lackawanna Track Conference title in the shot put and discus. He played football at Rutgers University (1993-95) and Bucknell University (1995-97). He helped Bucknell to their lone 10-0 season in 1997.
James Tomcho was a first Team All-Scholastic basketball player at Mid-Valley High School. At Keystone College, he ranks ninth with 537 career rebounds and third with 103 career blocked shots. He was team captain for an 18-4 team at Keystone. He then became a basketball coach leading Penn Stats Scranton to a team record 21 wins and its first conference title. In 1992-93. He led Carbondale Sacred Heart to the Northeast Athketic Conference Division II and District 12 Class 1A titles.
Rick Muntean has over 35 years of professional baseball management experience, including 26 years as general manager at every minor league level. He was the first general manager for the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Red Barons. He received the Best Minor League Baseball Yearbook Award in 1990 and was Minor League Baseball 100th anniversary Promotion third place winner in 2001. He was Executive of the Year in the Northern League in 2004. He was voted Executive of the Year in the Future Collegiate Baseball League in 2014.
Chris Imperiale is sports editor of the Scranton Times-Tribune. He began his journalism career there in 1994 as a correspondent and was hired as a full-time sports reporter in 1997. In 2002, he was promoted to assistant sports editor and led a redesign of the sports section. In 2004, he became assistant metro editor. He became sports editor in 2009.
He led the Times-Tribune sports department to state and national acclaim, twice earning the prestigious AP Sports Editors Triple Crown as a top 10 newspaper in circulation in 2018 and 2020. He served on multiple state and national committees for sports editors and writers and was AP Sports Editors Mid-Athletic Regional Chairman from 2014 through 2016.
