Donald Roberts (May 27, 1933 – July 24, 2016) was an American college men's

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

coach. From 1964 to 1997, he was the head hockey coach at

Gustavus Adolphus College Gustavus Adolphus College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in St. Peter, Minnesota. It was founded in 1862 by Swedish Americans led by Eric Norelius and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Gustavus gets its nam ...

St. Peter, Minnesota St. Peter is a city in Nicollet County, Minnesota, United States. It is 10 miles north of the Mankato – North Mankato metropolitan area. The population was 12,066 at the 2020 census. St. Peter is the county seat of Nicollet County and home ...

. At the time of his retirement in 1996, he was the winningest hockey coach in

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their stu ...

history. He received the John MacInnes Award from the

American Hockey Coaches Association The American Hockey Coaches Association was formed in 1947 in Boston. The founding members coached college ice hockey but membership has grown to include coaches at every level of the sport from youth hockey to professional ice hockey, although ...

in 1993 and the

Hobey Baker Legends of College Hockey Award The Hobey Baker Legends of College Hockey Award is an annual award presented by the Hobey Baker Memorial Award Committee to honor "one of the all-time great contributors to the game of college hockey." In 1981, the Hobey Baker Memorial Award Comm ...

in 2009. As of 2010, he ranks 15th all-time among college men's ice hockey coaches with 532 wins.

Early years

Roberts grew up in

Appleton, Minnesota Appleton is a city in Swift County, Minnesota, United States. Its population was 1,412 at the 2010 census. The town is home to a vacant medium-security prison, the Prairie Correctional Facility, which is wholly owned and operated by Correctio ...

, where he was a star basketball player. He enrolled at

in the early 1950s and played four years at halfback and

fullback Fullback or Full back may refer to: Sports * A position in various kinds of football, including: ** Full-back (association football), in association football (soccer), a defender playing in a wide position ** Fullback (gridiron football), in Americ ...

on the school's varsity football team under Coach Lloyd Hollingsworth. He played on three

Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) is a college athletic conference which competes in NCAA Division III. All 13 of the member schools are located in Minnesota and are private institutions, with only two being non-sectarian. ...

championship football teams and was selected as an All-MIAC fullback in 1955. He also played basketball and baseball, but not hockey, while he was a student at Gustavus. After college, Roberts served for three-and-a-half years in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

, reaching the rank of captain. While stationed at

Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton is the major West Coast base of the United States Marine Corps and is one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the United States. It is on the Southern California coast in San Diego County and is bordered by Oc ...

in California, Roberts began coaching baseball and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

. Roberts later recalled, "There is no greater place to learn about leadership than in the Corps." In 1959, Roberts was offered a position as a teacher and coach at Gustavus. He returned to Gustavus in the fall of 1959 and became the school's wrestling coach. After the 1960 football season, Lloyd Hollingsworth resigned, and Roberts was appointed as the new head football coach. He stepped down as the school's wrestling coach in 1962 to focus on the football program. He was the head football coach at Gustavus for five seasons from 1961 to 1965.

Gustavus hockey coach

In 1964, several schools in the

("MIAC") decided to add hockey to the conference's sports programs. Though he had never played or coached hockey before in his life, Roberts was appointed as the school's hockey coach. He later recalled, "I didn't have a winter sport, so I was the new hockey coach. The story was that I couldn't skate. Actually, I had skated occasionally on the Pomme de Terre River growing up in Appleton. We played some shinny hockey, using a pop can as a puck." He also recalled the teasing he received about his unsteadiness on ice skates: "On skates, I was a 30-year-old mite. I would stumble a lot. I started coaching in boots. The players would laugh at me. I was a good handball player. If someone laughed too hard, he had to play me in handball." In an effort to learn the basics of the sport, Roberts bought a book by

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

coach Eddie Jeremiah. Thirty years later, he said of Jeremiah's book, "It's still the best teaching manual ever about hockey." In Roberts' first year as a hockey coach, the 1965 team finished with a record of 1-14. However, Roberts compiled a 16-2 record and won an MIAC championship in 1966. From 1966 to 1978, Roberts' hockey teams compiled a record of 235-64-1 and won 12 of 13 MIAC conference championships. Roberts also served as the chairman and president of the

and was a member of the NCAA Rules and Hockey Advisory Committees for many years.

Career record and honors

In 33 years as the head coach at Gustavus, Roberts compiled a record of 532 wins, 290 losses and 25 ties. At the time of his retirement in 1996, he ranked first in career wins in

history. As of 2010, he ranks 16th all-time among college men's ice hockey coaches with 532 wins. Roberts has been the recipient of many awards for his accomplishments and contributions to college hockey. His awards include the following: *In 1975, Roberts was selected as the national hockey Coach of the Year by both the American Hockey Coaches Association and

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...

. *Roberts was named MIAC Coach of the Year seven times (1973, 1975, 1976, 1984, 1990, 1991, and 1993). *In 1985, he was inducted into the Gustavus Adolphus Athlete Hall of Fame for his contributions as an athlete in football, baseball and basketball. *In 1993, the

awarded the John MacInnes Award to Roberts for his lifetime of contributions to amateur hockey. *In 2009, he received the

as one of the all-time greats in the history of college hockey. *The rink at which Gustavus Adolphus currently plays its hockey games has been named the Don Roberts Ice Rink in honor of Roberts.

Personal life

Roberts lived with his wife, Nancy Roberts, in

. They have four grown children, two of whom played football for Gustavus. He died at the age of 83 on July 24, 2016.

Head coaching record

References