The Windsor sports community is mourning the death of a basketball icon, with the recent passing of legendary coach Gerry Brumpton.
Brumpton passed away last Friday at the age of 80.
Brumpton coached high school sports for 36 years, and is well known for his unprecedented success during a 32-year spell as Head Coach of W. D. Lowe’s Senior boys’ basketball team.
Brumpton graduated several players to high-profile NCAA scholarship, won numerous titles, and played an important role in building St. Clair College’s Summer Basketball Camp.
Brumpton is primarily honoured here for his work with the Senior boys’ basketball program as his teams won 734 and lost 260 for an impressive .738 win percentage.
Brumpton’s Lowe teams won a record 15 WSSAA City Championships (in 1970, ’75, ’76, ’77, ’78, ’79, ’82, ’87, ’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, and ’95), including a record seven consecutive titles between ’87 and ’93.
Under Brumpton, Lowe reached a remarkable eight OFSAA All-Ontario “AAA” Final Fours, winning two gold medals (1976 and ’77), four silver medals (’79, ’81, ’82, and ’91), and one bronze medal (’92). The team also won eight University of Windsor Invitational Championships (1976, ’77, ’78, ’79, ’81, ’90, ’91, and ’94)
Brumpton has also made significant contributions to basketball beyond the high school level.
Most notably, he organized and worked as Head Instructor and Coach for St. Clair College’s Summer Basketball Camp from 1978 to 2000.
In 1982, Brumpton was asked to coach Team Ontario at the Canada Games in Thunder Bay where he won a silver medal.
Brumpton received the 1981 Windsor Kinsmen Sportsman of the Year Award and a 1997 Heroes of Education Award from the Windsor Board of Education.
He was also inducted into the Windsor Essex Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.
Visitation for "Coach Brumpt" is Tuesday between 4pm-7pm at Windsor Chapel Funeral Home at 1700 Tecumseh Road East.