Education
Gillespie graduated from Kelvyn Park High School in Chicago, Illinois, and enrolled at DePaul University.
Gillespie graduated from Kelvyn Park High School in Chicago, Illinois, and enrolled at DePaul University.
He was a head baseball coach for 58 years at Lewis University, Ripon College, and the University of Saint Francis. With a career coaching record of 1,893–952–2, Gillespie had the most wins of any coach in college baseball history until being passed by Auggie Garrido of Texas in 2014. He had held that record since 1993 when he passed the prior record set by University of Southern California"s Rod Dedeaux.
He was also inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009.
He played basketball at DePaul under coach Ray Meyer and toured with the College All-Stars when they played the Harlem Globetrotters. At age 26, Gillespie began his head coaching career at Lewis University in 1953.
He was the head coach at Lewis from 1953 to 1976 and compiled a record there of 634 wins and 241 losses. His Lewis baseball teams also finished among the top five teams nationally in 1962 (3rd), 1963 (5th), 1966 (2nd), 1971 (3rd), and 1972 (5th).
Gillespie also coached the Lewis Flyers basketball team from 1950 to 1965.
Gillespie was the head baseball coach at Ripon College in Wisconsin for 10 years from 1996 to 2005. In 10 years at Ripon, he led the Ripon Red Hawks to a record of 239 wins and 130 losses. Gillespie served as the baseball coach at Saint Francis from 1977 to 1995 and again from 2006 to 2010.
During his first stint at Saint Francis, he led his team to the World Series on eight occasions.
Gillespie also served as the head coach of the women"s basketball team at Saint Francis from 1976 to 1993. Gillespie has also had a successful career as a football coach.
He was the head football coach at Joliet Catholic High School for 27 years and compiled a record there of 222 wins 54 losses and 6 ties. In 1991, Gillespie was selected by the Chicago Tribune as the head coach of the newspaper"s All-Time Illinois High School Football Team.
Gillespie also started the football program at Saint Francis University in 1986.
In 1998, Gillespie was named the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics "Coach of the Century" by Collegiate Baseball Magazine. Asked about retirement in 2006, Gillespie said, "God will retire medical He"ll tell me when it"s time."
Gillespie passed the Saint Francis coaching reins to his assistant coach, Brian Michalak, for 2012.
He died on February 28, 2015.