Dining on Gino's Chicken to Honor the Man

Gino Piccin is a legendary salesman who taught me many things about the business. He was in the news recently, being honored by his fellow Dante clubbers in West Springfield, Tom Shea wrote about him in today's Republican. Gino's famous chicken with herbs will be cooked up by his brother Dino, at a Sept 9 Supper in Gino's honor. He is battling leukemia, but his spirits are good, and the treatment is working. I remember Gino used to have one finger that was cut off, at the top knuckle, he said it happened in his dad's bakery, the Venetian.

I met Gino in 1980, and he taught he how to sell Val-pak direct mail advertising. We had a memorable time once when we went to a convention on Cape Cod with our girlfriends. We went deep sea fishing in Buzzard's bay, got sun tanned and drank a lotta beers and made it back to Western Mass by 2 am Sunday night. It was a dreamy, fun four-day weekend.

Throughout the years I run into Gino from time to time, and we always laugh and both fondly recall our earlier days. He would always say, "after you've got the sale, get out!...don't hang around and mess it up." He bought and sold Val-Pak franchises, and bounced back twice working for competitors, selling the same concept of coupons by mail. Gino is a wonderful man, and I wish him the best.