1. Name and Address of Reporting Person
Knapke, Murph
P.O. Box 504
Celina, OH 45822
2. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol
First Financial Bancorp (FFBC)
3. IRS or Social Security Number of Reporting Person (Voluntary)
279-42-9757
4. Statement for Month/Day/Year
01/06/2003
5. If Amendment, Date of Original (Month/Day/Year)
6. Relationship of Reporting Person(s) to Issuer (Check all applicable)
(X) Director ( ) 10% Owner
( ) Officer (give title below) ( ) Other (specify below)
7. Individual or Joint/Group Filing (Check Applicable Line)
(X) Form filed by One Reporting Person
( ) Form filed by More than One Reporting Person
TABLE I -- Non-Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned
+------------------------------+----------+----------+---------+--------------------------+--------------+-----------+------------+
|1. Title of Security |2. Trans- |2A.Execu- |3. Trans-|4. Securities Acquired (A)|5. Amount of |6. Owner- |7. Nature |
| | action | action | action| or Disposed of (D) |Securities | ship | of In- |
| | Date | Date | Code | |Beneficially | Form: | direct |
| | | | | |Owned | Direct | Bene- |
| | (Month/ | (Month/ | | |Following | (D) or | ficial |
| | Day/ | Day/ +-----+---+-----------+---+----------+Reported | Indirect| Owner- |
| | Year) | Year) |Code |V |Amount |A/D|Price |Transaction(s)| (I) | ship |
+------------------------------+----------+----------+-----+---+-----------+---+----------+--------------+-----------+------------+
Common Stock 2021 D
FFBC (Directors Fee Stock Plan) 01/06/2003 P 145 A $17.0985 2247 D
TABLE II -- Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned
+----------+--------+-------+-------+---------+-----------+---------------------+----------------+----------+-------+-------+------+
|1. |2. |3. |3A. |4. |5. |6. |7. |8. |9. |10. |11. |
| | | | | | | | | |Number |Owner- | |
| | | | | | | | | |of |ship | |
| | | | | | | | | |Deriv- |Form of| |
| | | | | | | |Title and Amount| |ative |Deriv- | |
| | | | | | | |of Underlying | |Secur- |ative |Nature|
| |Conver- |Trans- |Execu- | |Number of | |Securities | |ities |Secur- |of |
| |sion or |action |tion | |Derivative |Date Exercisable +-------+--------+ |Benefi-|ity: |In- |
| |Exercise|Date |Date | |Securities |and Expiration Date | |Amount | |cially |Direct |direct|
| |Price of| | |Transac- |Acquired(A)|(Month/Day/Year) | |or | |Owned |(D) or |Bene- |
|Title of |Deriv- |(Month/|(Month/|tion Code|Disposed(D)+----------+----------+ |Number |Price of | |In- |ficial|
|Derivative|ative | Day/ | Day/ +------+--+-----+-----+Date Exer-|Expira- | |of |Derivative| |direct |Owner-|
|Security |Security|Year) |Year) |Code |V |(A) |(D) |cisable |tion Date |Title |Shares |Security | |(I) |ship |
+----------+--------+-------+-------+------+--+-----+-----+----------+----------+-------+--------+----------+-------+-------+------+
2000 (NQ) $16.9048 04/25/2010 Common 8663 D
Stock Stock
Option
Explanation of Responses:
SIGNATURE OF REPORTING PERSON
/s/ Terri J. Ziepfel
DATE
01/07/2003