- Date Of Birth: October 25, 1932
- Date Of Death: November 29, 2021
- City: Battle Creek
- State: Michigan
Larry Pedicord, 89, passed away peacefully, at their Okeechobee Lake front, vacation home on November 29th. He is survived by his loving wife of 68 years, Nancy; daughters, Cindy (Doug Comeau) and Kimberly (Darryl DeYoung); son, Royce (Maria); granddaughters, Julia (DeYoung), Nicole (Pedicord), and Kaitlyn (Pedicord); grandsons, Kelley (Christiana Pedicord) and Daniel (Kenndy DeYoung); niece, Gayle Ingram; and nephew, Dr. Barry Scott Pedicord.
Larry was predeceased by his parents, Dr. Harold C. and Hazel Pedicord; his sister, Margaret Blazejowski; niece, Aleta Blazejowski; brother, Dr. Ronald Pedicord; and niece, Diana Vulgamore.
Larry was born in 1932 in Battle Creek, Michigan, and later he and his parents moved to Dayton, Ohio, where he continued his impressive athletic career. He was nationally ranked in tennis for Boys, 12 and under. Even though Larry’s high school had no tennis team he won second place, he won second place in the Ohio state high school tennis tournament in Columbus. In the week following the state tournament, Larry won his tennis match with the state champion, Barry McCay, who later competed in Wimbledon.
After moving to Ft. Lauderdale, Larry played tennis at Holiday Park with a noted tennis coach, Jimmie Evert, and Chrissie Evert. He also played in the Western Tournament in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Notre Dame, Indiana.
At Northridge High School in Dayton, Ohio, Larry set the state basketball record for points scored-over 1500 holds the largest, high school trophy for holding the highest basketball record, scoring over 1500 points, long before the advent of the 3-point shot, during the three years he was on the team. Later Larry was inducted into Northridge’s Hall of Fame.
As a result of his great high school success, Larry was received numerous offers of a full basketball scholarship from a number of premier schools, including West Point, but because he wanted to stay near his high school sweetheart, Nancy, he accepted the offer from highly ranked University of Dayton. At UD, Larry made the varsity basketball team as a freshman and played for the Dayton Flyers for 4 years. Although, at 6 feet, one inch, he was the shortest player on the varsity, and was known as “Leapin’ Larry, and played in three NIT and NCAA tournaments. One of Larry’s teammates was Don Donoher, who later coached the Flyers for 25 years and was highly regarded as one of the all-time successful basketball coaches with an outstanding winning record.
In addition to his great success in basketball at Dayton, Larry also made the UD tennis team a freshman, played for four years, and was named captain. To make both, the basketball and tennis varsity teams as a freshman and to play for each team for four years was a remarkable achievement. During this time, He also served as the Director of the Dayton Boys and Girls Club.
After graduating from UD in 1954, he was offered a Basketball coaching position and teaching Junior High School at Centerville, a high-profile community near Dayton. While vacationing in Ft. Lauderdale, Larry met Mae McMillan, founder, and Headmistress of Pine Crest School, at that time a winter school, located on Broward Blvd. The following year in 1957, Larry received a contract to teach and coach at PC, so Larry and his wife, Nancy, and 19-month-old Kim and two-month-old Cindy, moved to Ft. Lauderdale.
During the next 40 years at Pine Crest, Larry taught 7th grade Science and coached boys’ and girls’ varsity basketball, and varsity tennis. In 1973, the PC tennis team won the Florida state championship. Also, Larry was voted by the Broward County coaches Association, with the coveted honor as basketball, “Coach of the Year”. In 1977, the Pine Crest Board of Directors named Larry as an Honorary Alumnus and inducted him into the PC Athletic Hall of Fame.
In 1960, Larry used his expert experience as a camp director in Dayton to found Pine Crest Day Camp, beginning with 100 campers, and, over the years PCDC earned national recognition from the American Camping Association for its excellence in camping activities. By 1997, when Larry retired from PC, his leadership, talented staff, and unique programs had enabled PCDC to grow into the largest private school-owned day camp in America, with over 2000 campers.
Later in the Day Camping program, Larry realized the need for a summer overnight camp for the older campers. Larry and Nancy toured NC and found a perfect site for the camp in Highlands, NC. Pine Crest School agreed and thus began Camp Highlander, with Larry as executive director Larry was the first camp director to include a kayaking program in 1968, which was adopted by other camps and which is now implemented by most overnight camps. In recognition of Larry’s leadership and dedication to camping programs, the American Camping Association awarded him the rare honor of a lifetime membership in the ACA.
Larry deeply loved his family and his friends. He loved boating, fishing, the Bahamas, and the Florida Keys. He loved the Dayton Flyers, and his Miami pro teams: the Heat, the Marlins, and the Dolphins.
Larry was an exceptional husband, father, grandfather, uncle, friend, athlete, teacher, camp administrator, and coach. Although he suffered for years with Lewy Body Disease, a degenerative condition similar to Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s, he fought valiantly and never lost the respect, admiration, and enduring love of his large family and so many friends, all of whom will greatly miss him. Larry always retained the heart and spirit of a gifted athlete and the wondrous, Peter Pan joy of a camper.
As Larry always said, “I never grew up.”
