Celebration of life for Gillespie, Mount Olive coach Don Dobrino on July 2
A celebration of life will be held for the longtime Gillespie and Mount Olive football coach Don Dobrino, nearly a year after his death in 2021.
Dobrino, 15th all-time for wins in Illinois High School Association history with a 267-188-3 record, spent 27 seasons at Gillespie and 13 with the Wildcats. He came back at 80 years old for two more seasons with the Miners from 2015-16.
That last number might make it seem like he was done with football. But Cookie Dobrino, who married Dobrino in 1978, said he never left the game.
"He helped (Jacob Bilbruck, who coached Gillespie from 2017-21) on the offensive line which really wasn’t (Dobrino’s) specialty but Bilbruck told him, ‘Come in and do whatever you want.’ (Dobrino) even took over the weight program and then he took over the offensive line. He went to practice every day. He never really was retired-retired. He couldn’t stay away. He loved it; it was his passion.
“The boys still respected him, even though he wasn’t the head coach. When the Duke was on the field, the Duke was on the field.”
A celebration of life for the Duke will be at the Benld City Park on Saturday, July 2 from 6-9 p.m. Cookie Dobrino said everyone is welcome to attend. Don Dobrino died from cancer on July 4.
More: Former Gillespie, Mount Olive football coach Don Dobrino passes away
The number of players Dobrino coached over 50 years — he was also a head coach at DePue for five seasons, beginning in 1965 — likely outnumber the 1,464 population of Benld.
Dobrino, an Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Famer, was a four-sport standout at Mount Olive and was the Wildcats’ quarterback. He played baseball and football at the University of Iowa and was the Hawkeyes’ running back in the 1957 Rose Bowl victory. He was drafted by Washington in the NFL draft but chose to become a professional baseball player in Pittsburgh’s organization from 1957-62. After that time, he went into education and coaching. He joined Gillespie in 1970 and then became the Mount Olive head coach in 1997. He retired after the 2009 season as a head coach before one final two-year stint back at Gillespie in 2015.
“The Miners were his biggest love but we had a great 13 years in Mount Olive,” Cookie Dobrino said.
There will be catered food and drinks at the celebration. Cookie says she’s looking forward to seeing people and hearing stories about the Duke. She doesn’t care if it’s a large celebration or not.
“If (only) 50 people come, it’s OK, because we were unable to do that last year when he died because of COVID,” she said. “I know a lot of people would have visited and I got a ton of cards from all over.
“I do miss him terribly. His big, looming presence was always an important part of this family.”
Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Football coach Don Dobrino will be celebrated a year after his death
