While celebrating the selfless dedication of the 2015 Butler Football Hometown Hero inductees Oct. 16, we wound up mourning the loss of one of their brethren in the club.

The night Tom and Jim Menchyk, John Prokopchak, Merril Moses, Gary Archer and Paul Frenchak were honored in the Vo-Tech building, the gathering learned that Don Dombart, 83, had died earlier in the day.

Dombart, one of Butler High School’s first baseball coaches, became a Butler Football Hometown Hero inductee in 2009. He was honored in football for serving as the Golden Tornado’s equipment manager for 13 years.

That was after coaching baseball for 17 years and serving as a PIAA official in football and basketball for 17 more.

So why volunteer to serve as equipment manager?

“The work needed done, so I did it,” Dombart explained during an interview in 2012, the year he was inducted into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame.

That’s the way this guy was.

It was ironic that Dombart died on a day when six others who share his spirit for dedication and contribution to community were recognized for it.

People like Dombart are so few and far between today.

He was actually quite the athlete himself.

In track and field, Dombart once finished second in the long jump to Olympic gold medalist Bob Mathias in 1948.

Butler High didn’t have a baseball team when he played, so he played the outfield for the Butler Cubs in the Butler County League. Offered a minor league contract by the Boston Braves, Dombart joined the U.S. Navy instead.

By the time his four-year stint in the service was up, the Braves thought Dombart was too old to receive a contract. He was all of 22.

But sacrificing his time for the greater good is something this guy got used to doing.

Had it not been for Dombart, Butler’s high school baseball program may not have made it. He was head coach of the Golden Tornado for 17 years and produced 15 winning seasons.

And that was all by himself.

No assistants. No junior varsity or junior high team. It was all him and his varsity group.

“We sustained the program, kept it going,” Dombart said three years ago.

To the day he died, he was proud of that.

He was equally proud to serve as equipment manager, washing, drying and folding practice uniforms for more than 100 football players. He took care of the facemasks, spikes and helmets as well.

Then-head coach Tim Nunes wanted an adult to oversee duties that had been handled solely by students.

So Dombart stepped up.

Again. This man never sought nor requested a moment in the spotlight.

He simply earned it.

Rest in peace, sir. You’ve earned that, too.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle