Alumnus Credits SHU for His Professional Baseball Career

Richard Licursi ’91 shares how SHU played a role in his life experiences and success

Sacred Heart University alumnus and First Team All-American, Richard Licursi ’91, asserts that his four years at the University shaped him into the man he is today.

Licursi, 50, an Oxford resident who was raised in Trumbull, said he always felt connected to SHU. His mother, Barbara, worked at the University as a financial aid coordinator, his father attended night school and his brother, David, also holds a degree from SHU. Growing up mere minutes from campus, Licursi and his family attended the men’s basketball games. When the team made the national championship in 1986, the Licursi family took a trip to the big game.

“Being a Pioneer is in my DNA,” Licursi said.

Spending time around SHU in his youth and seeing the many athletes in action, Licursi was enamored with the baseball team and its jackets. “My goal as a kid was to get one of those,” Licursi said. He started his journey to that goal with tee-ball when he was 5 years old, and his love for America’s favorite pastime blossomed from there. As batboy for his brother’s team, Licursi’s talents—especially his throwing abilities—drew attention from the coaches, which gave him confidence in his abilities. His pitching, fielding and hitting skills improved as he got older.

After high school, the next step was college and the obvious choice was SHU. Licursi wanted to play professionally his entire life, and as he entered his junior year at SHU, Nick Giaquinto, SHU’s baseball coach at the time, provided the advice and direction Licursi needed. Giaquinto kept his word and rallied behind him, as did Dave Bike, former athletic director, and others. “They wanted me to succeed,” Licursi said. Sacred Heart was a family and still is, Licursi added. Everyone, including other athletes, endorsed and supported each other. 

As a young man, Licursi he had the talent for professional baseball, but not necessarily the right approach. “SHU helped me grow up. Coaches, staff and faculty helped me define my talents and attitude,” he said.

In Licursi’s junior year at SHU, he was named first-team Division II All-American and national player of the year. He finished out his four-year career as a Pioneer by breaking every single season and career pitching record. Some of Licursi’s records include wins in a season (13) and career (30), strikeouts in a season (103) and career (345), and innings in a season (105) and career (359).

After graduating SHU with a degree in business, Licursi pitched professionally for five years. He enjoyed a career with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox organizations, as well as independent baseball.

However, he and his wife Heather, a former volleyball and softball player whom he had met at SHU in 1990, were just as confident in their abilities off the field. They got married on Valentine’s Day in 1993, 10 days before reporting to spring training in Vero Beach, FL. They decided to move on from chasing the dream. They returned to Connecticut and started a family.

Back in Connecticut, Licursi worked in child development at the Westport Weston Family YMCA. With a new opportunity in front of him, Licursi jumped at the chance to work as a first-level IT help desk professional. Twenty-seven years later, that move led him to his current role, global director of IT infrastructure and operations at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.

Baseball still plays a major role in Licursi’s life. He formed Total Sports Academy of CT, an organization in Seymour that provides a facility for children to participate in sports development, travel teams and skills clinics. According to the academy’s website, its goal is to “enable participants to fulfill their athletic potential for their given sport.” As the owner and founder, Licursi helps youngsters hone their talents and grow personally within a team.

Licursi also developed Mission Sports Group LLC, a private organization that specializes in child development on and off the field. He said his aim is to coach young people to be the best athletes in the tri-state area and to show them a career path after graduating from college.

Recently, Licursi reconnected with the Pioneers baseball team. He hopes to be an ambassador for the team and, more importantly, looks forward to being a mentor to the players. 

“I’ve taken everything I learned, everything I went to school for, and I applied it to my life,” he said. “I’m a product of a lot of people from SHU.”

Sacred Heart’s transformation over the last several years impresses Licursi—from the expansive campus to increased programming. He said the one thing that hasn’t changed is the SHU student.

“They are all dedicated, good kids, willing to work hard,” Licursi said. He studied and played alongside similar students in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Licursi is still proud to call himself a Pioneer, and appreciates all that SHU has done to increase the worth of his degree. He looks forward to what his alma mater will do next.

Photo caption: From left are Heather and Rich Licursi; Rich with his brother David, also a SHU alumnus; and Jose Escobar.