Scholarship honors life of Delone coach
Some people knew John Gastley as “Coach” or “General John,” a tough but devoted former football coach at Delone Catholic High School.
Others knew him as a knowledgeable business teacher at the school.
To his family, he was simply “Pappy,” a loving husband, father and grandfather.
Gastley passed away in 2006 after a nine-year battle with leukemia, but his family and former students and football players are preserving his memory through the John Gastley Scholarship Foundation, which has been raising money as an independent nonprofit group since 2006 in order to send students to Delone on a full scholarship.
The foundation has been holding fundraising events to raise money to kick off the scholarship - which will need to provide about $5,000 per year to send a student to Delone Catholic for four years, according to Andy Angel, the foundation’s chairman. If it can continue to raise money, the foundation plans on giving out one scholarship per year to a financially disadvantaged student.
The next event will be a dinner and raffle on April 12 at the McSherrystown SAVES Social Hall.
The foundation has raised $19,000 so far and is planning to have the application process finalized by the end of this year, so that the scholarship can be awarded for the 2009-10 school year.
Angel said the idea for a scholarship first circulated when a former student of Gastley’s donated $1,000 to Delone Catholic in Gastley’s memory.
“The mention of the idea brought immediate acceptance from just about everyone,” Angel said. “It is absolutely a testament to John.”
Gastley played football for Delone and graduated from the school in 1959. He returned in 1965 to teach business and serve as the assistant football coach after earning an accounting degree from Villanova, where he also played football.
After two years, he was offered a job as head football coach, a position his wife, B.J., had to convince him to take.
“I think he was wondering if it was too soon to take it on. But I just thought that he’d be great at it,” B.J. said.
During his coaching years, Gastley led three undefeated teams in the former South Central Pennsylvania Football League.
Angel played for Gastley for two of those undefeated seasons in 1971 and 1972.
“He wasn’t a big talker or a big cheerleader, but he was the kind of man that when he spoke, it was on point and you’d have to pay attention to what he was saying,” Angel said.
In 1974, Gastley’s coaching efforts were rewarded when he was named Coach of the Year. He was later inducted into both the South Central Pennsylvania Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Adams County Hall of Fame in 2000.
But the real reward for Gastley was watching his football players succeed on and off of the field.
“A lot of players still kept in touch after they left the school, and he liked to see what they were doing. He was proud of them if they had success in life in any way,” B.J. said.
And with the creation of the John Gastley Scholarship, players are finding ways to say “thank you” to a man they credit for much of their success.
“While he was at Delone, he impacted countless individuals as a teacher and coach,” Angel said.
As the foundation was forming, its members approached Gastley’s family to see if they would like to be involved.
“I just remember being at meetings and talking about this and thinking this isn’t right. You couldn’t believe the fact that he wasn’t there. You were talking about honoring someone who died and you couldn’t believe he wasn’t there,” B.J. said. “It was hard at first. Everything was hard at that point. He was just a strong force in our lives.”
But the scholarship has been a good way for the family - which includes three children and six grandchildren - to keep Gastley’s memory alive, B.J. Gastley said.
Gastley’s children, Randy Gastley, Tracy Jo McClintock and Jackie Byers, attend foundation meetings with their mother, and their children have been actively involved in the foundation’s fundraising efforts as well.
Gastley’s granddaughter, Taylor McClintock, 12, organized a roller-skating fundraising event for the foundation called “Taylor’s Tribute to her Pappy,” in which she collected donations from more than 150 local businesses, community members and kids for the scholarship.
“She heard us talking about going to these meetings and she wanted to do something for her pappy,” B.J. said.
With the family and foundation members’ continuing efforts, the scholarship will provide students with a chance to share Gastley’s positive experience as a Delone student, Angel said.
“It honors the man, supports Catholic education and allows the kids who might not have had an opportunity to attend Delone to have that opportunity,” he said.
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