Keith S. Gilbertson Sr.

Keith S. Gilbertson Sr.

Snohomish coaching legend Keith S. Gilbertson Sr. died February 16, 2011, in the company of his sons, following complications in his recovery from heart surgery. He was 83.
Coach Gilbertson spent his entire adult life training and mentoring athletes throughout the region, especially those from Snohomish High School, where he coached continuously for 61 years and was a gifted athlete himself in the early 1940s.
He particularly relished his involvement with the Snohomish girls basketball team, because of the players' consistent attentiveness and eagerness to learn and improve. After entering the hospital at midseason this year, his goal in the final weeks of life was to get well and get back on the practice field for spring football workouts.
He was preceded in death by his wife and high school sweetheart Eileen Amundsen Gilbertson and by his parents Steven and Helen Gilbertson. He is survived by son and fellow coach Keith Jr. and wife Barbara of Woodinville and West Lake, Ohio; son Jim and wife Tracy of Snohomish; son Jay of Lake Stevens; older brother George Gilbertson of Snohomish; grandchildren Ann Gilbertson Haggart, Leigh, Krissy and David Gilbertson; and great-grandchildren Zoe and Julian Haggart.
Born August 20, 1927, in Snohomish and a 1945 SHS graduate, Gilby earned 10 letters in four sports as a Panther. He was a two-time Most Inspirational Player in football and captain of the 1944 football squad that had eight shutouts in nine games while posting the first unbeaten, untied season in school history. He served one year in the Naval Reserves after high school before getting into coaching at Pullman during his college days at Washington State after his own football-playing career was cut short by a head injury. While still a student, he helped coach the Cougars' freshman football team and also coached the Pullman High track team. After earning his degree and starting his own family, Gilby returned to Snohomish High in 1950 as a teacher and assistant coach under his own mentor, the late Stan Bates, and never left his alma mater despite numerous opportunities for higher-profile and better-paying jobs elsewhere.
He was the head coach in football (1953-55), cross country (1956-65) and track (1956-66) and also operated a largely self-funded summer AAU track program (1958-65) in addition to being a national high school representative and committee worker for the NCAA Track and Field Committee and the U.S. Track and Field Coaches Association. Since 1965, he served as an assistant coach in football, boys and girls basketball and, for three seasons, baseball. His cross country teams brought SHS its first two state team titles in 1960 and 1965, and his track/cross country runners included state, national and world record-setters. He also coached state championship teams in boys basketball (1970) and football (1976 and 1978), and helped three girls basketball teams reach the state finals (1993, 2005 and 2009).
A gifted and popular English teacher, Gilby retired from the classroom after 31 years in 1981 but remained an unpaid volunteer coach through 2010. He suffered a mild stroke during the 1981-82 basketball season but missed only a few weeks and returned to help coach the team in the postseason. An early advocate of strength training and year-round conditioning, he worked with many college and professional athletes in their offseasons as well as with high school and AAU athletes over a six-decade career that impacted thousands of lives as he inspired all to realize their potential and simply do their best.
Career honors include being named Snohomish Junior Chamber of Commerce Man of the Year in 1961, Everett Herald Coach of the Year in 1963, Washington Track and Field Federation Award for outstanding contributions in 1966 and Snohomish County Man of the Year in 1978.
He was also inducted into the Washington State Coaches Association football and track/cross country halls of fame, and in 1993 he was among the charter members inducted into the Snohomish High School Hall of Fame.
Funeral services for Coach Gilbertson will be held Monday, February 21 at 10 a.m. at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Snohomish, followed by interment at the G.A.R. Cemetery and a public memorial service at 1 p.m. in the Snohomish High School gym. Condolences to family members may also be expressed at a viewing and visitation Sunday, February 20, from 1-3 p.m. at Bauer Funeral Chapel in Snohomish. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that donations be made to Snohomish High School athletics or to the Eileen Gilbertson Scholarship Fund through the high school.