As a diehard fan of the New York Mets, this season has been nothing but disappointing. Through all the negatives, though, there is at least one positive; assistant General Manager John Ricco is a Villanova Alum and his experiences on the Main Line propelled him on the fast track to a big time job in sports. At Villanova, he was the sports editor of the yearbook and The Villanovan. Following his graduation in 1990, he landed an internship with the New York Yankees. He has worked his way up to the assistant General Manager of the New York Mets, and it would not surprise me if he took over the General Manager position very soon. The success he’s had stems from what he learned at Villanova. Here are a couple of excellent quotes from the article.
On his first tour through the Villanova campus, which helped him decide on his college choice:
It was the morning after Villanova won the title, and the place was trashed. In the Quad, there were kegs everywhere and broken windows. I was walking through and the tour guide was a little uncomfortable because of the parents. I looked at my father and he was like, ‘What is this? What is this all about?’
On his interests other than baseball:
It’s my main diversion. I’m all baseball so much, but I love to keep track of Villanova basketball. Plus, everybody knows that I went there. Anything that comes up in the news, I get e-mails.
This is a fantastic article, regardless of whether you love, hate, or don’t care about the Mets. It’s more about Villanova than anything and some of the stories he tells are great, in my opinion. Always nice to see Villanova alums succeed.
