Two DePauw Friends -- Skip Mathieson '57 and David Dunkelberger '61 -- Reunited as Coaches at Blackburn College

September 2, 2004

September 2, 2004, Greencastle, Ind. - "Blackburn College football coach Skip Mathieson is in his second year at the school after a number of coaching stops," begins a story in today's edition of the State Journal-Register of Springfield, Illinois. "Mathieson, 69, found a new partner in old friend David Dunkelberger, 65, who will coach the defense for the Beavers this fall. The two go back 40 years since their college days at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana." Mathieson (seen at left) is a 1957 graduate of DePauw; Dunkelberger is a member of the Class of 1961.

"Dunkelberger, like Mathieson, can't get coaching football out of his system. His resume shows 19 stops starting in 1961," writes Buford Green. "Mathieson and his wife [Sally Pottle Mathieson '58] still have a home in Decatur and Dunkelberger and his wife live in Westerville, Ohio. To get this arrangement going, Mathieson and Dunkelberger rent an apartment in Carlinville."

Mathieson tells the newspaper, "I guess we ought to have a nickname for that apartment, because it is football from 6 a.m. to midnight. He's a dandy. We have been friends for over 40 years and in the same profession, so we stayed close over the years. After retiring from Otterbein two years ago, he decided he wanted to keep coaching. I said, 'I have the perfect spot for you.' "My wife visits and I get to Decatur some, but I haven't been able to break her away from the grandkids. It didn't take a lot of prompting to get Dunk here. He didn't want a full-time job but he just wanted to coach, and this is perfect.''

The Blackburn head coach adds, "These kids (in NCAA Division III) are great. I coached on the Division I level for a while, but these kids truly play because they want to play. Scholarships keep kids in D-I, but these kids are here because they want to play. They have an option."

Dunkelberger notes, "Skip will kill me for this, but he has been either playing or coaching football for (parts of) seven decades, since he started playing in the eighth grade. So I am the young guy. I think we have an excellent hook-up with the kids.''

Read the complete article by clicking here. 

Last September, Skip Mathieson was quoted in USA Today.  Read more here. 

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