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Courtesy of Barnsdall Publ|c Schools | Watonga Republican
Longtime Barnsdall High School coach Joe Gilbert, who spent 66 years coaching the Panthers and Lady Panthers across six different sports, died at 87 on Monday morning in a Bartlesville hospital.
Gilbert's victory totals are 1,140 in fast-pitch softball, 922 in girls’ basketball, 801 in baseball, 649 in boys’ basketball, 395 in slow-pitch softball, and five in football (one year — 1980).
Gilbert, who has coached at Barnsdall since 1954, was honored with the Tulsa World All World Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 and was inducted into the NFHS National High School Hall of Fame in 2019.
Gilbert, who was still the girls’ basketball coach at Barnsdall, was approaching his 67th year of coaching at the school.
“He is loved beyond measure,” Barnsdall Public Schools said in a statement Monday night on their official Facebook page. “He taught us about loyalty, humbleness, and how to put the needs of others before our own. He was a humble servant. Barnsdall was blessed to be called his home for 66 years.”
According to Cameron Jourdan of The Oklahoman, Gilbert had attended Northeastern State in Tahlequah, graduated in 1954, then hitchhiked to numerous interviews and eventually settled down in Barnsdall for the remainder of his life.
Gilbert won two state titles as a head coach at Barnsdall: 1980 with Panthers’ baseball and 2013 in Lady Panthers’ fast-pitch softball.
Andrew Salmi can be reached at Sports@WatongaRepublicancom