Don Dombart

This is the seventh in a series of articles profiling the 2012 inductees into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame. The Hall’s annual banquet is at 6:30 p.m. April 28 at the Butler Days Inn.BUTLER TWP — Once Don Dombart got into sports, he didn’t want to get out.Now he will forever be enshrined.Dombart, 80, Butler’s first longtime varsity baseball coach, a PIAA official for 17 years and an equipment manager at the school for 13 years afterward, will be inducted into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame Saturday night.“Sports have always been a part of my life,” Dombart said. “Even when I was through coaching, I just wanted to be part of the program somehow.”Prior to coaching, Dombart was a pretty good athlete in his own right.A 1950 Butler graduate, Dombart competed in the long jump and 100 meters for the track and field team as Butler didn’t have a baseball team at that time. He once competed in the long jump against two-time Olympic gold medalist Bob Mathias.“Mathias had just gotten back from the Olympic Games in London (winning the gold medal in the decathlon in 1948) and was attending Kiski Prep,” Dombart recalled. “He had a jump of something like 20 feet in our meet and I finished second.“Not a bad guy to finish runner-up to, I guess.”Dombart was an outfielder for the Butler Cubs in the Butler County League and was offered a minor league contract by the Boston Braves. He opted to join the U.S. Navy instead.Dombart possessed plenty of speed on the bases and was a consistent line-drive hitter.“A bunch of us joined the Navy out of high school,” he said. “When I came back after four years of military service, I called the Braves scout who had talked to me.“He said I was too old. I was 22.”Dombart enrolled at Clarion State Teachers College in 1954, played baseball there, and got his first varsity baseball coaching job in the Northern Bedford School District in 1958.“They happened to need a varsity coach when I got there, so I applied,” Dombart said. “We put together a successful team, but that was a small school. The first graduation class when I was there had 67 kids.”He wound up returning to Butler as a teacher two years later, though the school had yet to start a baseball program.“I was offered a $1,000 raise, which was good enough for me,” he said.Dombart served as an assistant under Butler’s first two head varsity baseball coaches, both of whom stayed on the job for a year or two. He took over as head coach in 1967.Dombart stayed on as head coach for 17 years and enjoyed 15 winning seasons.“We didn’t win championships, but we consistently won,” he said. “I had no assistants, no junior varsity, no junior high team. But we held it together.“We sustained the program, kept it going. To this day, I’m proud of that.”While coaching baseball, Dombart officiated football and basketball from 1968 through 1985.“I knew some guys who were officiating and they talked me into taking the test for it,” he said. “That was very enjoyable. I worked a few playoff games over the years.”Once he stepped down as head baseball coach, Dombart assisted following head coaches Ed Codi and Jay Fennell. He retired from teaching in 1986.“Jay played baseball for me at Butler,” Dombart said. “He was cut from the team the first time he came out, asked me for another chance and became my starting center fielder and one of the better hitting players I’ve coached. I was a volunteer coach with him.”Dombart also volunteered to serve as football equipment manager under coach Tim Nunes, who wanted an adult overseeing that operation, which previously handled by solely students.“I washed, dried and folded the practice uniforms for the kids and we had more than 100 of them,” Dombart recalled. “Facemasks, spikes, helmets ... there was a lot of work there.“I didn’t mind it. I loved being around the team. The work needed done, so I did it.”

Tickets for the Hall of Fame dinner are $20 and are available at Parker Appliances in Chicora, Moses Jewelers at the Clearview Mall, Bill’s Beer Barn or Snack n’ Pack in Butler, Maddalon’s Jewelers in Zelienople, Saxonburg Drug or at www.bcshof.com.