TEDDY
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Teddy Eulogy by John Sica
I’m not sure of the year, but it must have been in the early 70’s I was riding
my bike on east 19th st. and one of teddy’s friends drove down the
block and said something bad has happened to your brother playing football at
the bank parking lot.
They used to play in the parking lot on the corner of Nostrand Ave. and Ave.
U. I raced over on my bike but was too late, the ambulance had taken him away.
He had gone up high for a pass and the defender took his legs out from under
him and he came down on his head. He suffered a concussion but worse he
swallowed his tongue. He would have choked to death if not for his teammate
Patty Russell. Patty was a neighborhood kid who was in the Police Academy
training to be a cop and had just learned in first aid class about someone
swallowing his tongue. Patty took action.
It wasn’t Teddy’s time yet.
In 1980 Teddy and his Partner Paul Dwenger responded to a robbery in progress on
Albany Avenue in crown heights when three men emerged from the building and
began firing at point blank range into the windshield of the car. Miraculously
the glass deflected the shots as both the front and back windshield shattered,
raining glass down on Teddy and Pauly. In that chaos they didn’t know if they
were shot but pursued the robbers on foot and caught two of them.
It wasn’t Teddy’s time yet.
In 2008 you will remember we thought it was his time.
We were saying our goodbyes, even had a 10-13 party for him.
We all prayed for a miracle.
Especially his son Brandon who was planning his wedding and family and wanted
more than anything for his father to be there.
It wasn’t his time.
When my friend Dylan died two years ago, one month after saving a dozen people
in hurricane sandy I said that God had a plan for Dylan.
God had a plan for teddy. I really think that hundreds of people are walking
the streets today who never heard of teddy, yet they would not be alive today if
not for him.
For he not only solved old cases, he prevented other cases from ever happening
by putting away some of the most violent criminals.
And if you factor in the other great cops and detectives that learned from
teddy, I bet thousands of people who never heard the name Teddy Sica are alive
today because of him.
Teddy could have worked in the most prestigious units in the nypd solving the
most high profile cases that are covered by all the news outlets. That didn’t
matter to him. The residents of the 71st precinct were people who
wanted to live safely, wanted their kids to be safe, and that was the greatest
motivating factor for Teddy and his men.
Bill Williams summed it up best on his post on facebook,
“As a young man, and a young cop all I aspired to do was to work for and with
Teddy. To have him want you on his team, was the ultimate compliment.
Teddy touched so many lives, and provided encouragement and guidance
unselfishly.
He gave me some of the best advice I could have ever received...on more than one
occasion, that I still pass on to others.
A mild mannered gentleman who understood what real leadership consisted of, and
he walked the walk every day without a moments hesitation.
I am a better man for knowing you Ted.
"you're the man, bud"
One thing I noticed in that quote, and from so many other men who worked for
him, was that Bill said I wanted to work “for and with him.”
That tells you about what kind of a leader he was. You worked for him no doubt,
but you worked with him. He led by example. He treated everyone with respect, as
a peer.
Your actions could only have two results. Teddy would either say, “you’re the
man bud” and that would make your day. Or he could say, ‘cmon buddy boy, you
could do better than that.”
Like Det. Johnny Mac told me, he never yelled at anyone, you just didn’t want to
let him down.
If you worked hard enough and were good enough for teddy to pick you to work for
and with him, he would call you in for an orientation.
He would look at your suit and say, “okay tomorrow wear sneakers and dungarees,
your vest and two guns.” Guys would walk out of his office shaking their heads
wondering what they were getting themselves into.
Those same qualities that made him a great leader of men in the police
department and DA squad, made him a great coach and father. He expected effort,
respect, your best. As a result he was a part of so many winning teams.
Teddy coached Brandon’s travel baseball team for almost 10 years and coached a
lot of the same kids from the time they were little boys until they became young
men. That same passion and love Teddy had for the job he also had
for coaching and teaching. Everyone loved playing for him. He
treated each and every kid with respect and treated them like they were his
sons. He taught them not only how to be the best baseball players
they could be as little boys, but also how to how respect the game and to carry
themselves as they became young men. Years later when Teddy’s sons
were out of college, he wanted to get back into coaching and start over again
with 9-10 year olds, but this time around he was joined by both his sons who
helped instill those same values. Now today, young Teddy is keeping that
tradition alive in coaching his 3 children’s (Alexandra, Theodore, Jonathan,)
various sporting teams. One day, when Derek is a bit older,
Brandon hopes to do the same.
Teddy grew up in a loving household.
When his mother died in 1964 he was only 15 years old.
He was devastated, but he has been
reunited with her now. He watched
the strength of my father in raising five kids by himself, without complaining
or feeling sorry for himself. I
think that taught him and me and my brother Tommy and my sisters Ronnie and
Trice, and shaped us to become who we are.
Teddy was especially grateful to my sister Trice, who was there whenever she was
needed, to clean his wounds, wash him, drive him, make him meatballs and
spaghetti, or bring him a cup of dunkin donuts.
As for myself, I am who I am because of him.
Although we may seem way different, I think I am someone he would have
become if my mother didn’t die.
In the sixties when I was an
impressionable little boy he would take me with him to hang out with his hippie,
rock and roll, beach boy friends.
He turned me on to the great music of the day, the beach lifestyle, and of
course sports. Many of you probably
don’t know but he was at Woodstock, and almost left the police department to
move to Rincon Puerto Rico with his friend Danny in the early seventies.
But his respect for his father and sense
of responsibility, and his love for Liz, held him back.
I think he saw a piece of himself
in me and that’s why he gave me a free pass and was never judgmental of my free
spirit.
His greatest success was his family.
He and Liz raised his two sons to become respectful, loving, intelligent,
hardworking, leaders in their own field. They wanted the same love he had for
their mother Liz, and met their own fantastic wives, Ted and Mary, and Bran and
Natalie. Teddy and Liz love their
grandchildren more than anything, Alexandra, Theodore, Jonathan and Derek.
His love lives on in his family.
And finally the rock of the family has been Liz.
There comes a point when a man and the head of the household becomes sick
that someone has got to step forward.
Liz has done that. She has
been so strong for so long. Never
wavering in her love and strength.
She has been patient, supportive.
She met the hippie in the sixties that I spoke of earlier and fell in love.
And has been with him for decades as he became the legend that he will
always be. I spent most of my career in the Department of Sanitation covering the area in the 71 Precinct, and every day I would run into cops on the street, or when i visited Teddy in the Precinct, they would see the name on my badge and ask if I was related to Teddy Sica. I would tell them, "yeah he's my brother"and they would always say "he's a great cop", or "he's a great boss." Or most important, "he's a great guy". It made me proud to be his brother. When we had the benenfit for him a few years ago the overwhelming show of love and support for him was unbelievable and it made me proud to be his brother. And these last few days the awesome show of love and support everyone has shown to teddy and the Sica family has been overwhelming and greatly appreciated. Finally I just want to say three words to my brother, words he has said to everyone in this church at one time or another, and three words he will undoubtably hear at the gates of heaven, "good job buddy!"
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