Amidei's Colorful Legacy Lives On in the Hearts of His Former Student-Athletes

CHICAGO – There is an almost mythical quality to the legacy of former DePaul track and field coach Don Amidei and his profound impact on the lives he touched.

Amidei is most often described and fondly remembered as a boisterous, totally transparent, pipe-smoking rugged individualist who once got himself kicked off a Metra train. He was also a man's man who quite literally fought for his beliefs, punching out guys who wouldn't serve black athletes in restaurants.

He was a colorful character drenched in a rich texture whose version of political correctness was simply standing up for right over wrong.

We're talking about a no-nonsense, supremely confident, fiercely competitive one-time boxing champion with the primitive instinct to dominate who also appreciated the finer things in life---an Egyptology scholar with intellectual curiosity about history, the world and the arts.

It's no wonder this rare blend of General George Patton and Pablo Picasso was such an overwhelming inspiration to a generation of track and field athletes that crossed all boundaries.

Whether you encountered Amidei at St. George (Evanston) or St. Ignatius High School or collegiately at Loyola, Northwestern or DePaul---the effect was the same. You began to live your life according to his teachings and would never be the same again.

The powerful bond and utmost sense of loyalty forged by "Coach A" is unmistakable as former student-athletes from five different institutions have in effect come together as Amidei Comrades-in-Arms to establish an endowed track and field scholarship at DePaul in his name.

It's almost unheard of for people from so many different schools (DePaul, Northwestern, Loyola, St. George, St. Ignatius) uniting in a joint fundraising effort.

That is the impact of one Donald H. Amidei who passed away in July of 2008 at the age of 82. He had come to DePaul on a basketball scholarship and graduated in 1949. Amidei was inducted into the DePaul Athletic Hall of Fame in 1979 for boxing and track and field.

"I questioned coach A at one point, feeling very sure that our long distance runners of the early 1970s---especially myself---would be better served by doing long, slow distance training with less reliance on the high-intensity intervals," said ex-Northwestern runner Bob Gagne.

"Coach Amidei's reply was direct: 'I have given you the best possible workouts.' "He added that I was free to disagree with him, and that any time I disagreed, I could take a swing at him. Discretion being the better part of valor, no way was I ever going to flail at my accomplished, pugilist track coach.

"In fact, I only threw one punch in my entire time at NU. That was in a two-mile indoor meet at McGaw Hall when a competitor from UIC was more interested in scuffling than racing. He repeatedly fouled me and Frank Gramarosso in the tunnel portion of the track, out of sight from spectators, coaches and the referee.

"Then on the straightaway, in full view of everyone, he grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled. I responded with a punch that caught his jaw, but only grazed him. Frank finished the confrontation by knocking our opponent off the track.

"The miscreant was enraged at being decked and ran between the bleachers and basketball court attempting to tackle me on the opposite straightaway. He missed. Our one-two finish in the race was short-lived. We were disqualified for fighting, and had cost NU points. Coach Amidei was livid with us. He chewed us out in front of everyone, then banished us to the locker room saying he would deal with us after the meet.

"Frank and I were left alone to contemplate what surely looked to be the end of our careers as Wildcat athletes. After about 20 minutes of somber reflection and wondering about our futures, a teammate appeared with a message from coach Amidei. Coach A was actually proud of us because we had shown that Northwestern runners would not be pushed around!"

*****

Pat Savage was a standout track student-athlete at DePaul who later returned to coach the track and field and cross-country programs. The 1993 DePaul Athletic Hall of Fame inductee and moving force behind the Don Amidei Endowed Scholarship won't ever forget that first clash with his mentor.

"Coach Amidei was tough as nails," Savage started out. "I learned from him that I could not coach that way. However, I also learned that hard work and perseverance will make you a better coach and a better person.

"Once when I was captain of the DePaul team, I disagreed with coach and told him that the team should not be out in this terrible rainstorm running. He said, 'you are right.' Boy, did I feel good that he agreed with me.

"Coach then told me I did not have to run another interval because I was no longer on the team. I looked around for backup from my teammates, but they were all on the line ready to run. Of course, coach Amidei let me back on the team, but not before I learned my lesson about disagreeing with the coach."

Amidei's secure belief in his world view and deeply felt convictions were matched by his heartfelt respect and at times, admiration of greatness earned. Gagne could attest to all of the above.

"Coach Amidei was focused, engaged, and purpose-driven," Gagne said. "At Northwestern, he had the unenviable task of trying to make the only private school in the Big Ten competitive with state school powerhouse programs. The state schools had bigger budgets and bigger teams.

"On occasion, he would look at us and remark with enthusiasm: 'So this is what I have to win the Big Ten!' He was fiercely competitive but sometimes compassionate with a deep respect for greatness. In 1972, Minnesota came to Evanston for a dual meet on the indoor track at McGaw Hall with Garry Bjorklund who had won three consecutive Big Ten cross country titles (1969-70-71), had given the legendary Steve Prefontaine a run for his money in the NCAA championship and was tough as nails.

"But now Bjorklund had a severe injury to his left foot, one that would eventually require surgery and nix his chances of making the 1972 Olympic team. Coach Amidei decided that our two-mile track event could be run in the opposite direction (clockwise) so as to lessen the strain on Bjorklund's injured left foot. I don't know if such a novel accommodation had ever been made for a great Big Ten track athlete."

*****

Bill Drennan ran track from 1963-67 and was inducted into the DePaul Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992. His narrative and memories provide a glimpse into how Amidei accomplished so much with such limited resources during his tenure in Lincoln Park.

"I knew coach Amidei to be a tough but fair coach," Drennan said. "From day one he made it clear that 'the man who pays the piper calls the tune.' The tune was: No. 1, you study. No. 2, you run. After that, your time was your own. I soon came to realize that there was little time after the first two.

"But I also came to realize that coach was very dedicated, knowledgeable and easy to follow. On several occasions I was asked by rival athletes how I could run for such a no-nonsense, pipe-smoking coach. I was always pleased to say that I had no doubt he was exactly the coach I needed.

"In his first three years at DePaul (1962-64), coach brought in seven or eight athletes who had run in the IHSA state track meet. He then set out to build a very competitive cross country schedule where we ran against nationally-ranked Northwestern, Wisconsin, Southern Illinois with its large international contingent, Miami of Ohio, Eastern and Western Illinois plus home and home duals against defending NCAA champion Western Michigan—one of which we won.

"He did all of this on a shoestring budget renting a station wagon to take six of us to meets wearing plain red singlets with no lettering."

Amidei found a way to coach his kids up to a place where they could compete at the highest level.

"He got us to believe that 'If you are good enough, people will know who you are'—and they did," Drennan said. "We may have been from "the little school under the El," but we ran with the best in the Midwest."

Drennan was asked to describe what made Amidei such a special human being.

"Aside from his skill and dedication as a coach, I came to recognize coach as a life-long learner with endless curiosity," Drennan said. "The older I got and the longer I was with him, the more I appreciated his wide variety of interests and extensive knowledge.

"Years later during my teaching career, coach invited Pat Savage, George Gabauer and me to join him as members of The Cliff Dwellers, Chicago's 1907 arts club. There, coach Amidei continued to share his curiosity and knowledge. Two of his special interests were Egyptology and Chicago arts, especially sculpture. Through the years, coach chronicled the work of numerous sculptors---especially current and former Cliff Dwellers. For years he continued to educate us."

Is there a part of Don Amidei that has remained with Drennan to this very day?

"I was fortunate enough to have a very satisfying experience as a DePaul student-athlete," Drennan responded. "It was coach Amidei's belief in me and offer of a scholarship that allowed me to pursue my ambition from high school into becoming a teacher and a coach. My 36-year career—33 years at Maine South---teaching high school English and coaching both cross country and track resulted directly from coach Amidei's mentoring.

"He was a Hall of Fame coach with a love of learning and a refined taste in art and history. When the team traveled, he insisted that we wear a shirt with a collar and either our button-front school sweater or a sport coat to dinner. No going to dinner in our shirt sleeves.

"For a number of years, our end-of-season banquet was held at The Bakery on Lincoln Avenue, a high-end, very expensive restaurant. Again, a classy touch from our classy coach introducing us to some of Chicago's finest cuisine."

*****

Dr. Tom Sullivan was among Amidei's prized pupils and perhaps his most accomplished track athlete. Sullivan set five National High School Track records at St. George, one World Junior Record in the mile run and was honored as the Top National High School Track and Field Athlete of the Year by Track and Field News.

Inundated with letters and offers, the blue-chip recruit narrowed his choices to nationally renowned universities and track powers Notre Dame, Stanford and Villanova. Amidei was appointed assistant track coach at Loyola University during the last half of Sullivan's senior year.

"Coach offered me an opportunity to run for Loyola," Sullivan said. "He was very sincere and professional in his proposal and said he would be honored to coach me an additional four years. He was truly honest and said that the decision should be entirely my own. He did not want to put any pressure on me and would not mention the offer again as we trained for my final few months at St. George.

"It was an awfully hard decision. To this day I have had some 'what if' moments. My decision to choose Villanova was the best choice that I ever made in my life. I set four world records on Villanova's relay teams, was in the finals of three NCAA Track Championships and competed in the 1964 Olympic Trials.

"But my greatest reward was inviting coach Amidei to my induction into the Villanova Sports Hall of Fame ceremony in 1985. I began my speech that night by introducing him as the man who made this all possible."

First impressions are the most lasting, and here is Sullivan's inaugural encounter with Amidei.

"On my second day at St. George High School, I attended a meeting in Room 204 after school to sign up for the freshman basketball team. A stern-looking man with a pipe in his mouth and holding a paddle which looked a yard long in his right hand entered the room and slammed the paddle on the desk. Everything went silent in the room and we all sat up straight in our desks with our hands crossed.
"The rumor was out already. No one breaks school rules in coach Amidei's presence without paying the price from his paddle. He was known as St. George's most feared disciplinarian when you entered the building each morning."

Amidei would not consider anyone for the basketball team unless they also signed up for cross country as conditioning for the winter sport. Thus began Sullivan's illustrious career.

Amidei had his Catholic League perennial champion runners follow the formula of European coach Franz Stampfl (legendary coach of Dr. Roger Bannister). Each week their interval training of 10x440 yards became slightly faster with Amidei occasionally adding a few more to make it an even dozen.

The runners always had to take their pulse before starting the next run. Amidei would shout out "NOW" and then 20 seconds later yell "STOP." After they counted the fast beats from the carotid artery in their necks, they would multiply that number by three and shout out their heart rate. Amidei was truly a unique physiologist, cardiologist and psychologist in his successful training methods with 14-18-year-old high school runners in the 1950s.

"I remained close to coach Amidei after I completed my fifteen years of college, medical school, internship and two medical residencies in 1977," Sullivan said. "I started working out again and running in some local master track meets. It was my only activity in which I could achieve a quiet and quick form of recreation.

"My wife and family supported my outlet as it took only 30-60 minutes a day at odd hours after my workday (8 a.m.-10 p.m.). Right outside of my home, I had a great dead-end road that was exactly 440 yards from my driveway and a quiet three-mile loop with only a rare passing car and with good street lighting at night.

"I had been seeing coach Amidei for lunch two or three times a year, and in 1990 I asked him if he would coach me for three months so I could prepare for the World Masters Track and Field Championships that were being held in the USA for the first time in Eugene, Ore. Having that coach-athlete chemistry that we amazingly had when I was a teenager came alive again.

"Every day he would meet me at a local high school track around 6 p.m. He would be waiting for me sitting in the stands with his famous baseball hat, a pipe in one hand and a book in the other. The workouts were the same as in 1961 with a wee-bit slower interval time. The voice commands yelling out my split times and his directions on how to finish down each final straightway was a 'deja-vu' moment I will never forget.

"I took him out to Eugene and we had a great time driving around in a convertible seeing all the evergreen tree parks, the Pacific Ocean and reminiscing about the old times. I ran in the second heat of three with 45 entrants (45-49 year-old category) who came from around the globe. The world famous Kip Keino was in heat three.

"Coach could not be on the track, and I was not able to hear his familiar voice yelling my splits or directions. I ran seventh in my heat with a time of 4:23.25 for 1500 meters (about a 4:41-4:42 mile equivalent). I did not make the finals which was won in 4:04.55, but my qualifying time was faster than Kip Keino's time.

"On the way home on the plane, coach continued to be a mentor for me and strongly advised me not to be consumed with time and records as a master runner. 'Enjoy the running as a hobby only and put your family and medical practice far ahead of this sport,' he advised.

"We continued to meet more frequently in coach's later years as much as once a month. He was a fascinating historian in Egyptology. His stories of Egypt took priority over track stories in our conversations at dinners. I was amazed at his knowledge and expertise in this area and his several trips to Egypt for special tours and studies of archeology.

"Is there a part of coach Amidei that has remained with me today? You better believe it! There is not a day I do not say a prayer for coach Amidei and his wife, Theresa, for their selfless time they gave to me as a teenager and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become the person I am today. Coach Amidei instilled in me discipline and confidence in my decisions, actions and plans that consume me in everyday life."

*****

Frank Gramarosso ran for Amidei at Northwestern and is currently the accomplished track and cross country coach at North Central College in Naperville.

"All athletes coached by Amidei remember and have stories about Don's rough, tough persistent inner arrogance," Gramarosso said. "All athletes coached by Amidei also witnessed the character of a man that believed what it took to be a winner in academics and athletics is what it takes to become a winner in the game of life.

"At Northwestern, we traveled to competitions in university station wagons driven by upperclassmen. Coach A traveled alone in his car. For some reason on a trip to Purdue, I traveled with coach in his car. On that trip, I learned more about the man, this special human being that challenged the body, mind and spirit. The competitive spirit and mental toughness that gives us an edge in competition are the same principles we applied to academics and is exactly what it takes to become winners in life.

"In February of 1996, after Coach Amidei's 70th birthday celebration with many of his former athletes in attendance, he sent everyone a letter. I am sure Don personalized each letter and this was his message to me:

'I really think the coaching profession is lucky to have you in it. I always have felt that you have those qualities that best exemplify what coaching is all about. Where you coach is where I recommend.
Coach'

Gramarosso looks at that letter and reads it to himself every day.

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It's been a longtime quest for Savage and Drennan to bring the Don Amidei Endowed Scholarship to life.

"We wanted to honor coach and keep his memory alive," Savage said. "He did so much for us, and now it was our time to repay him for making us who we are. There were only about 50-70 student-athletes that competed for DePaul during his seven-year tenure so we knew we had to get the Northwestern, Loyola, St. George and St. Ignatius athletes involved.

"Ben Slivka, Rolfe Jaremus, coach Frank Gramarosso, Brian Murphy and Bob Gagne of Northwestern along with Bill Drennan, Jim Faron, and Lloyd Schlegal of DePaul made big pledges which got the scholarship off the ground.

"I think coach would be honored to know that his former student-athletes are doing something that will keep his memory alive for so many years. Most of coach's former student-athletes are over the age of 50, so we had to do something now before it was too late."

During a holiday season when we count our blessings, let the legacy of Don Amidei be among them.

DePaul University Athletics

Amidei's Colorful Legacy Lives On in the Hearts of His Former Student-Athletes

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