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The Passing of the Gordie Gillespie

J

JCHILLTOPPERS

Senior
May 29, 2001
10,371
791
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I write this post with the heaviest of hearts.

I learned this AM that Legendary man (then)/ Coach Gordie Gillespie passed away at the young age of 88. At this time of the season, people reading the board need no explanation of who Gordie was, what he represented, and what an impact he had on the lives of all IL football and baseball fans. While he incomparable success did not stop at the HS ranks, it's what touched me the most.

I really cannot pay enough of a tribute to the man. I know, what he would accept as the highest compliment, is knowing the knowing that he positively led young men and prepared them for life, and on the way, was perhaps the most successful coach the US has ever known.

Gordie - Thank you.

You are the HILL.


Amazing story of success
 
E

eireog

All-Conference
Oct 6, 2007
2,796
3,391
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I had the extreme pleasure of running into Coach Gillespie at an area hotel where he was speaking at a football coaching clinic nearly 30 years ago. He had just retired as the head coach at Joliet Catholic. We talked for nearly an hour about football,baseball, the Kelvyn Park neighborhood, the church, Catholic education, family and faith. I could have talked for hours , I hope he felt the same. He didn't know me other than my introduction of who I was and where I was from. He treated me as a friend he's known for years. I walked away from the conversation a better person for having spent that time talking to him.

My condolences to his family, those whose lives he touched, the JCA family, and the thousands of lucky men he coached. The world is a better place as a result of his journey here. May his soul and the souls of all the faithfully departed, rest in peace.
 
J

JCHILLTOPPERS

Senior
May 29, 2001
10,371
791
0
Originally posted by eireog:
I had the extreme pleasure of running into Coach Gillespie at an area hotel where he was speaking at a football coaching clinic nearly 30 years ago. He had just retired as the head coach at Joliet Catholic. We talked for nearly an hour about football,baseball, the Kelvyn Park neighborhood, the church, Catholic education, family and faith. I could have talked for hours , I hope he felt the same. He didn't know me other than my introduction of who I was and where I was from. He treated me as a friend he's known for years. I walked away from the conversation a better person for having spent that time talking to him.

My condolences to his family, those whose lives he touched, the JCA family, and the thousands of lucky men he coached. The world is a better place as a result of his journey here. May his soul and the souls of all the faithfully departed, rest in peace.
Click to expand...
Cannot tell you how often I heard similar stories.
 
J

JCHS78

Redshirt
Mar 12, 2002
1,201
47
0
I just read the article in the Herald News. I first met Gordie in 1974 when I was an 8th Grader visiting Joliet Catholic. That was before he became Gordie Gillespie the Legend and Gordie Gillespie the Myth.

Gordie was a genuine guy. My dad was the first coach Gordie hired when he started the football program at St. Francis. Those two guys probably knew everything there ever was to know about football between the two of them. I loved watching those two coaching together. One of the last times they were together was when the first St. Francis football team was honored a few years ago. Those two old farts held hands as they were announced and walked down the track together. It was priceless.

I was fortunate enough to play for him in 1976 and 1977. I also had the good fortune seeing him regularly until the past couple of years when he began to fade. He always remembered things about my playing days that I had forgotten.

Good man.
 
W

WIU@78

All-Conference
Dec 27, 2006
8,215
1,066
66
Being a Joliet native, it is really amazing the number of great sports celebrities that were entrenched in the city. Of all the greats, Gordie was easily the diamond of the city.
 
G

GMAN81

Junior
Aug 21, 2013
1,681
229
63
Just pulled up an article online. Wow, some resume. Probably the greatest small college coach ever.
 
J

JCHILLTOPPERS

Senior
May 29, 2001
10,371
791
0
the first time I met Gordie was at a basket ball game at USF. I was way out of school at this time, but easily recognized him...not like i'm interested in JCA history .... I introduced myself, and then he relayed a story to me about how he tried to get my dad off the street game and into the gym! WTF that was like 20 years ago...but Gordie remembered....unreal. I went home later and told my dad....he recalled it almost exactly like Gordie did.
 
I

ignazio

All-Conference
Oct 25, 2007
3,837
2,878
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"When I'm standing at the gates trying to get in, He's not going to ask me how many games I've won."

- Gordie Gillespie 1926-2015

L I N K
 
D

Dr. Veeman

Redshirt
Jul 2, 2013
120
0
0
Without question, Gordie will always be known as a person who cared for not only the players and coaches he surrounded himself with, but others that he was around on a daily basis. I lived it firsthand as a student at St. Francis as a team manager for the basketball program as well as the sports information director for the college in the 80's and had daily interaction with him in the hallways, classrooms, offices, and in the cafeteria.

This man remembered who I was years later when I saw him at football games away from Joliet and took the time to interact with me, plus get to know my mother as well as my wife and son during the last 35 years. Life takes many twists and turns, and for Gordie, he navigated his way through in a manner that we all should take note of. There aren't many Gordon Alexander Gillespies in this world today, but you will find plenty of people that were influenced by him.

RIP Gordie...you've made it into another Hall of Fame!

This post was edited on 3/2 9:51 PM by Dr. Veeman
 
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