Community 'shock' as coach is arrested on morals rap

LOUIS Spadaccini, known as "Coach Lou" in the halls of Ss. John Neumann and Maria Goretti Catholic High School, has been a beloved figure in the school's South Philly community.

The '92 Neumann grad has coached the baseball team since 2007, steering the team to its second Catholic League Championship earlier this year. By day, he was an assistant to Common Pleas Judge Harold Kane at the Criminal Justice Center.

Now, however, doubt looms over the former Daily News All-City outfielder, who was arrested Monday on a slew of charges that include corruption of minors, luring a child into a motor vehicle and simple assault, police said.

Spadaccini, 37, of Iseminger Street near Oregon Avenue, allegedly took a 14-year-old male to the Holiday Inn, on Packer Avenue near 9th Street, on Sunday and gave him beer and a prescription pill, said Capt. John Darby, head of the Special Victim's Unit.

Police said that the boy's parents became alarmed after trying to phone and text him. Spadaccini drove the boy home, where his parents saw that their son was "very intoxicated, under the influence," Darby said.

There was no evidence of sexual contact, Darby said. He added that he had received "early indication" that there was another boy in the room. The case is still under investigation.

"It's just widespread shock," said John Murawski Jr., the school's president. "Coach Lou was revered in the community because he was deeply involved with both youth sports and youth baseball."

As one parent put it, Murawski said, "They just think they're in a bad dream and that they'll just wake up and Coach Lou will be out of this situation."

Over at the Criminal Justice Center, where Spadaccini has been employed by the First Judicial District since 1998, according to city payroll records, an employee declined to comment, but did confirm the coach's identity. "That's Louie," a court employee said when shown Spadaccini's picture.

A woman who answered the door at the South Philadelphia home where Spadaccini resides with his parents said that he was unavailable. She also denied that he had been arrested.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has placed Spadaccini, who joined the school as assistant coach in 2006, on administrative leave pending an investigation.

The school conducted the required criminal background checks and child-abuse clearances, the Archdiocese said.

Police and school officials asked anyone who may have anything to report on the coach to call the Special Victims Unit at 215-685-3251.

- Staff writers Ted Silary and Mensah Dean contributed to this report.