Al Micucci, an influential figure in Sachem Youth Soccer and the Long Island Junior Soccer League, has died after suffering from COVID-19.
Micucci formed a close relationship with the Sachem High School varsity program and feeder system, helping build the overall scope of soccer in the community.
“We shared a special relationship because Al saw the benefits of working with the school teams rather than the common mistake of pitting the club teams against the school,” said Sachem soccer coaching legend Frank Schmidt. “With all this said he was loved and admired by both parents and players alike which he had coached for many years on the club level.”
A baseball kid from Commack, he played soccer in high school too, but never really made it part of his total DNA until his own children began playing in the 1990s.
“It was all downhill from there,” Micucci joked in an interview from 2010. “My dad was always an umpire, that’s how he helped out. I was more tuned into coaching.”
He served as vice president of SYSL from 1996 to 1998 and president from 1998 to 2007. As a coach his teams won two Division I titles and two Waldbaum Cups between 1993 and 2000. He also coached in the LIJSL Select program for U13A, U13B, and U15A from 1998-2001.
A director of fields for SYSL, Micucci was a main force behind the irrigation system implemented at the SYSL Complex on the Long Island Expressway Service Road in Holtsville.
With LIJSL he served on the competition committee, technical director search committee, summit steering committee, director of coaching search committee and the player’s arbitration committee. He was inducted to the LIJSL Hall of Fame in 2009.
A plant manager at American Casting & Manufacturing in Plainview, Micucci is survived by his wife Linda and children, AJ, Kristina, Nick and Eric.