Robert George “Bob” DiSpirito Sr.

Robert George “Bob” DiSpirito Sr., 87, of Slippery Rock passed away at 7:50 a.m. Monday at VNA Hospice in Butler.

Bob was born Aug. 9, 1928, in Woonsocket, Providence County, R.I., to Angelo DiSpirito Sr. and Ann Tedeschi DiSpirito. He married Marilyn Frances Muegge on July 4, 1958, in Woonsocket.

Bob graduated from Woonsocket High School in 1947, where during his senior year, he captained both the football and baseball teams to state championships in Rhode Island and also lettered in basketball.

He received his undergraduate degree in physical education from the University of Rhode Island in 1953. During this time, he was recognized as a national collegiate All-American athlete in both baseball and football, where he captained both squads and was president of his senior class.

Bob served in the Army ROTC in college and then in the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant from 1954 to 1956. He received his master's degree in physical education from Columbia University, N.Y., in 1958.

Coach “D” taught at Cheshire Academy in Connecticut, where he coached both football and baseball and later both sports at the University of Bridgeport, Conn., and football at Bucknell University. In 1967, Bob was recruited as head football coach at the Slippery Rock State College, later named Slippery Rock University, where he led the team to an unprecedented three consecutive Pennsylvania State Football Championships.

He retired as a coach in 1987 and as a full professor of parks and recreation in 1998. He achieved a total of exactly 100 career victories as a head football coach. Bob was later enshrined into the Slippery Rock University Sports Hall of Fame, the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame, the Western Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, the University of Rhode Island Sports Hall of Fame, the Rhode Island Sports Hall of Fame and numerous other sports halls of fame.

In 2006, Slippery Rock University officially dedicated the school's football field as “Bob DiSpirito Field” in his honor. He was a longtime member of St. Peter Roman Catholic Church in Slippery Rock. He enjoyed and loved his family and friends immensely.

Surviving are his wife, Marilyn; three sons, Robert G. DiSpirito Jr. and his wife, Evangelina, of Dunedin, Fla., James D. DiSpirito and his wife, Carol Lee Espy, of Pittsburgh and David A. DiSpirito of Slippery Rock; two daughters, Diane E. Magliocca and her husband, Mike, of Slippery Rock and Lisa C. Redman and her husband, Chad, of Tarpon Springs, Fla.; his sister, Gloria Bottai and her husband, Fred, of Merritt Island, Fla.; his brother, Donald D. DiSpirito and his wife, Mary Lee, of Annandale, Va.; and 11 grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by four brothers, Arthur, Angelo, Louis and Ernest, and two sisters, Bertha and Julia.

DISPIRITO — The family of Robert George “Bob” DiSpirito Sr., who died Monday, Dec. 21, 2015, will receive friends from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday and from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday at the Newman Center, 342 Normal Ave., Slippery Rock.A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Dec. 29 at St. Peter Roman Catholic Church, 670 S. Main St., Slippery Rock, with the Rev. Kevin Poecking presiding.Memorial contributions may be given to the Robert G. DiSpirito, Sr. Football Scholarship Fund, in care of Slippery Rock University.The Smith Funeral Home in Slippery Rock assisted with the arrangements.