Local legend Bob Gambold passes on
Sunday, November 2, 2008 4:58 PM PST
By Rick McCorkle
Printable version
E-mail this articleWhile some people are content with dreaming about playing or coaching in the big game, Longview native Bob Gambold could say that he had “been there, done that.”
From mentoring Heisman Trophy winners, to playing professional football, to coaching in the Super Bowl and Rose Bowl, Gambold made living the sports dream seem easy.
“Bob is a guy who gets along with people extremely well,” Loren Tate of the News-Gazette in Champaign-Urbana, Ill., said in a 1988 newspaper story. “And he’s a guy who would be able to get along with a variety of elements.”
Gambold, who dedicated his life to helping athletes become
better players and citizens, died at age 79 on Oct. 24
near his home in Chandler, Ariz.
He was born in Longview to Lee and Helen Gambold on Feb. 5, 1929. His father helped pioneer the Greyhound Bus Lines with founder Claude Graves in Minnesota before moving to Longview in 1925.
As a 15-year-old, Gambold made his sports debut as a lanky first baseman with the 1944 Club Cafe softball team, which included local softball legends Dick Oxford, Jerry Davies, Meade Cobb, Leroy Hibberd and Roy Poler. The team won the Longview City League title and went on to play in the state tournament.
“Bob was a very mature player who really made an impression on the other players in the league,” longtime local coach Joe Moses said. “He went on to play baseball in high school along with playing on the Longview Elks baseball team.”
Gambold also played on the Aborigine Savages baseball team managed by R.A. Long High baseball coach Tiz Miller.
During his years at RAL, Gambold was a standout in football, basketball and baseball, and was named Cowlitz County’s top athlete in 1946 after leading the Lumberjacks to a fourth-place finish in the state basketball tournament, the best-ever finish in school history. He would later earn induction into the RAL Hall of Fame in 2006, and into the Southwest Washington Softball Hall of Fame in 2007.
“I’d say that Bob ranks up there with Sonny Estes and Gary Earnest as the top all-around athletes to have ever come out of R.A. Long,” Moses said. “I had a chance to see him play football a few times and thought he was a great quarterback. He could really handle a basketball, and he was also a very good baseball and softball player. He was also very coachable, had a pleasant personality and was well-liked by his teammates.”
The 6-foot-4 Gambold also played one season for the Longview Lions All-Stars basketball team that included local hardwood legends Joe Moses, John Moses, John Vaughn and Ted Wall. The Lions racked up wins over the University of Portland, Pacific University, Pacific Lutheran University, Eastern Washington University, Lower Columbia College, and the 1946 and ’47 Northwest AAU champions.
“Bob was an all-around, complete player on both offense and defense,” Moses said. “He was an unselfish player who fit in very well with our big guys, John Vaughn and Ted Wall, because they were all great leapers.”
After graduation, he played football and basketball at Washington State University, where he lettered four years in football and three in basketball, earned all-conference honors in basketball and was inducted into the school’s athletic Hall of Fame in 1988.
In a story that appeared in The Daily News prior to his Hall of Fame induction, Gambold said somewhat kiddingly about his selection: “I probably have some friends on the (induction) committee.”
He was a starter for both the football and basketball teams during his final three campaigns with the Cougars, and helped them win the Northern Division basketball title in 1950. He’s still ranked among the top-10 in field goal percentage in school history.
Gambold was selected by the Chicago Cardinals (later the St. Louis Cardinals and Arizona Cardinals) in the 23rd round of the 1951 NFL Draft (307th player overall), but never played a down for the team. He graduated from WSU in 1952 with a degree in physical education, and opted to stay at the school and coach freshman football, basketball and baseball.
He later signed with the Philadelphia Eagles and saw action in 1953. Gambold finished his one-year NFL stint with six pass completions in 14 attempts, with no touchdowns and two interceptions.
Gambold decided to return to coaching, and in 1954 signed on at Everett Community College as an assistant football coach along with head coaching duties in basketball and baseball.
After two seasons, Gambold wanted to return to major college mentoring, and came back to WSU as an assistant under first-year head football coach Jim Sutherland. He aided in five campaigns before joining the Oregon State University coaching staff under head coach Tommy Prothro. He stayed with the Beavers for two seasons and helped coach quarterback Terry Baker, the 1962 Heisman Trophy winner.
Gambold joined the football staff at Stanford University prior to the start of the 1963 season, and stayed with the program for nine campaigns under head coach John Ralston. During his stint with the team, he worked with another Heisman Trophy winner (Jim Plunkett, 1970), and helped the squad win back-to-back Rose Bowls in 1971 (27-17 over Ohio State) and ‘72 (13-12 over Michigan).
When Ralston was tabbed head coach of the Denver Broncos in 1972, he hired Gambold as his defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. Gambold spent seven seasons in Denver mentoring members of the Broncos’ “Orange Crush” defense, and was on the sideline in the New Orleans Superdome for Super Bowl XII in 1977 which the Broncos lost to the Dallas Cowboys 27-10.
After the 1978 campaign, Gambold was hired by the Houston Oilers as the defensive backs coach. He spent five years in Houston, and had the opportunity to work with Heisman Trophy winning running back Earl Campbell.
Gambold got the itch to return to college coaching, and in 1983 joined the staff at the University of Illinois. After starting out as the assistant coach for outside linebackers, he worked his way up to become the defensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and eventually assistant to the head coach under Mike White and John Mackovic.
In 1984, White helped the Fighting Illini reach the Rose Bowl, where they lost to UCLA 45-9.
Gambold retired from coaching at Illinois in 1991, and in 2000 collaborated on the book “Defensive Football Strategies” with the likes of Eddie Robinson, Dan Devine, Bob Stoops, Grant Teaff, Bo Schembechler, Don James and Dee Andros. His chapter in the book is titled “Establishing a Winning Defensive Mind-Set.”
Gambold is survived by his wife, Shirley, and children Robin, Valerie, Barry, Cheri, Traci, Vicki and Liesl.
Arrangements were handled by The Neptune Society of Tempe, Ariz.
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