The longtime baseball and football coach died at the age of 88. Gillespie is the 2nd all time winningest college baseball coach and won 5 football State Championships at Joliet Catholic. RIP, Coach.

Wow, I missed this.

Gillespie was one of the most remarkable coaches in the history of Illinois high school athletics. I remember seeing one of his football teams play and thinking that they looked more like a college or pro team than a high school team.

I wrestled against Joliet Catholic a few times during high school. Fortunately, Gordie Gillespie didn't coach the wrestling team, so Joliet Catholic wrestlers were generally pushovers.

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He was a remarkable coach. He was gone by the time when I got to JC but I went to his baseball camps when I was a kid. The JC football team still runs his double wing offense but unlike Gordie they now do utilize a punter and place kicker.

JC was an all boys Catholic school. All the best wrestling was done in the Rectory.

Gordie was the football and baseball coach at St. Francis when I went to school there in the late '80s. I only went there for one semester.

I heard a story (not sure if it is true or not). Gordie and the coaches arrived at football practice and it was raining. Gordie looked up in the sky and it stopped raining. Team held practice and when they got done and left. It started raining again.

RIP Coach Gillespie.