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player ready...The moment Karl Gorecki first struck a drum with a pair of sticks, he was hooked.
For the next six years, Mr. Gorecki rose early every morning and stayed after school every day to practice his drumming technique.
Heading into his senior year at Westmont High School this year, Mr. Gorecki was playing drums for the school’s marching band, jazz band, pep band and choir. Earlier this year, he and three friends organized their own rock band.
“You never saw him without those sticks in his hands,” said his mother, Janet Gorecki.
Mr. Gorecki, 17, died Thursday at his home in Westmont. The DuPage County coroner’s office has not yet determined the cause of death.
His family has started a scholarship fund to help pay college or pre-college tuition for aspiring drummers.
“We wanted some way to remember him and a way to carry on his dreams,” his mother said. “Since Karl isn’t going to get to take his talents to the college level, we’d like to carry on his dreams by helping others.”
A native of Hoffman Estates, Mr. Gorecki moved to Westmont about eight years ago. He soon took up drumming and within a few months was playing in the Westmont Junior High School band.
“Karl was an incredibly fast learner and such a perfectionist that he picked it up immediately,” said Bill Riddle, director of bands at Westmont High School who once taught at the junior high.
For the last three years, Mr. Gorecki spent every free moment practicing for, or playing in, one of a half-dozen school-related bands. In the six years he’s played with school bands, he never missed a performance, playing in more than 100.
“Karl’s death will have a tremendous impact on our program musically, but more important, it will have a tremendous impact on these students because they all respected Karl,” Riddle said.
Recently Mr. Gorecki helped organize The Lacquer, a band of four local teens. The fledgling group took first place in the school’s talent contest earlier this year.
A 4.0 grade-point average student, Mr. Gorecki planned to study business administration at Northwestern University or the University of Illinois.
Besides his mother, survivors include his father, Michael; a sister, Tina; a brother, Eric; and his grandparents, Al and Carol Reuter and Mary Gorecki.
Visitation will be from 3 to 9 p.m. Monday at Toon Funeral Home, 109 S. Cass St. in Westmont. Mass will be said at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, 109 N. Cass St.