Generations of Lodi Rams gathered Saturday to honor longtime football coach and athletic director Pat Tirico, whose name will now adorn Lodi High School’s athletic stadium.

Tirico, a Lodi native, died on February 21 at age 69, according to an obituary from Di Chiara Funeral Home. The Lodi Board of Education approved the stadium renaming on August 26.

Family members, former players, alumni, and community members attended Saturday’s dedication ceremony before Lodi’s varsity football game against Manchester High School.

Tirico played linebacker for the Rams in the early 1970s before returning to Lodi High School in 1983 as head football coach. He amassed 186 career wins and led teams to 10 state playoff appearances and three state sectional championships in 1992, 1998, and 2005, according to the district.

He became Lodi’s athletic director in 2005 and held the position until retiring in 2023. The district noted that many of the students and players Tirico mentored later returned to Lodi schools as teachers, coaches, and administrators.

“Coach Tirico was a larger-than-life person who taught us that his greatest pride was not measured in wins or titles, but in the men his players became,” Superintendent Frank D’Amico, a former player under Tirico, said in a statement.

New signs bearing Tirico’s name were unveiled at the stadium entrance and scoreboard wall, along with a memorial plaque.

Lodi defeated Manchester 24-13 after the ceremony to improve to 4-0.