Bob Cottrill with John Olesky in Bob's Melbourne home in 2015

Bob Cottrill breaks leg, in rehab

Bob Cottrill, Class of 1951, who lives in Melbourne, Florida, broke his femur and is in rehab.

The femur is the bone that connects the knee bone to the hip bone.

Duane Harbert, Class of 1951, who gave me the news, emailed me that “it sounds like he is having a hard time.”

Turns out Bob was jitterbugging and fell. He asked a family friend to do the last dance with him. Bob said he "twirled." His footwear near moved. Splat! Broken femur.

His bone between the hip bone and the knee bone is encased in a strip of metal attached by a bolt with an anchor on end.

Good thing Bob was the toughet football player in Monongah High history. When he carried the football he would run over and lay out the would-be tackler. Again and again.

After all, Bob worked in the coal mines and went to Monongah High at the same time. He really hit hard on the gridiron!

Bob is in the Life Care Center in Palm Bay, which is about 5 miles from his Melbourne, Florida game. I've been there a few times when Paula and I spend our winters in The Villages, Florida. Melbourne is close to the Atlantic Ocean.

Bob graduated from Fairmont State in three years, began a teaching career in biology and general science and coaching at Ohio's Wapakoneta High School – astronaut Neil Armstrong’s hometown.

 

He advanced to helping the State of Ohio Board of Education with school financing and implementation of fair busing, from his office in Parma. Then in 1982-88 he was director of business administration handling such things as bus routing while assistant superintendent of Brunswick, Ohio schools. He was school principal in Northfield, Ohio near Akron.

 

Bob’s grandson, Chris Barnes, son of Bob’s daughter, Rhonda, works for Fidelity Mortgage and Title out of Akron. 

 

Bob also has sons Rob in Atlanta and Randy in Tampa.

Bob’s first wife, Barbara Jean Henderson Cottrill, a 1955 Fairmont Nursing School graduate who was nursing manager for Suburban Cleveland Hospital, which later was absorbed into the Cleveland Clinic system, passed away in 2007.

 Bob’s friends conducted a memorial in Macedonia, near Northfield and Akron, for Barb, who was nursing manager for Suburban Cleveland Hospital, which later was absorbed into the Cleveland Clinic system.

Bob married again in 2011, to Thelma from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, a friend of Bob and Barbara.

Bob a few years back got a visit from Swisher Hill’s Tony Orsini, Class of 1946, and his wife, Mary Louise Baker Orsini, in the Class of 1948. Mary Louise has since passed away.

Bob played football with Tony’s late brothers, Tom "Bum" Orsini, Class of 1950, whose widow, Peggy Rauer Orsini, lives in Titusville, Florida, and Bum’s brother, Cocoa Orsini.

The Orsini brothers were Tony, Tom “Bum”, Larry, Jimmy, Junior "Cocoa" and Bill. Still alive are Tony and Jimmy, who resides in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Bob’s Florida MHS reunions included Delores Vingle Olender, Class of 1951, who was in the Ray Vingle Band long ago. Ted Nagle, Class of 1954, who lived in Vinton, Virginia and Micco, Florida, also had a reunion with Deloris several years ago in Micco.

Bob remains friends with Tom Martin, Class of 1951, who winters on Marco Island, Florida with his wife.

 

Bob owns Cottrill’s Mountain, 120 acres near Burnsville, West Virginia. His children and grandchildren use it for their private park and playground.

The late Paula Cottrill was Bob’s half-sister. So are Bill Cottrill and the late Chatta Belle Castro. They all had the same father, who remarried after divorcing his first wife, but different mothers.