Local George Gilbert will be our next Hoosier Storyteller on December 15 at 12:30 p.m. in room 219. Gilbert has recently retired from coaching high school football after 38 years. He has been a head coach for 36 years. Coach Gilbert has earned a career coaching mark of 223 victories with 176 losses. He is currently ranked 41st in wins all time in Indiana football. He has coached both in Ohio and Indiana. Coach Gilbert grew up in Rensselaer, Indiana and graduated in 1973. He went on to play college football at both St. Joseph College and Manchester College where he earned his undergraduate degree. He then attended Indiana University earning a Masters in Secondary Education.
For the past nine years, Coach Gilbert has developed Tri-Central into a respected football program with winning seasons 5 out of the 9 seasons after going 0-10 during his first year in 2009. In 2013, the Tri-Central Trojans won the Indiana Class A State Championship. Coach Gilbert feels the success at Tri-Central is due to the hard work from his staff, his administration, his parent group, and his community. He has won numerous coaching awards and in 2013 he was a finalist for the NFL’s Don Shula High School Coach of the Year award thanks to the young men who played on the 2013 team. He is a member of the Indiana High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame. Coach Gilbert has also won numerous teaching awards over the years as a social science teacher. Mr. Gilbert lives in Clinton County and has been happily married to his wife Judy for the past 41 years. They have three children, Mike [38] Matthew [37] and Elaine [27].
Gilbert will share a 45 minute presentation on his successes and struggles. There will be a 15 minute question/answer period at the end of the presentation. The presentation will focus on his journey professionally and the road blocks along the way. Time will also be set aside concerning the process of writing a manuscript.