Brockton loses legend Colombo
The football field wasn’t the only place where Armond Colombo carved a legacy.
The Brockton community suffered a huge loss early Sunday morning with the passing of the football coaching legend at the age of 87. Colombo coached high school football at Archbishop Williams and Brockton from 1960-2012, and his 316 wins rank second on the alltime state list.
“To say he was a great guy doesn’t do him proper justice,” said Bobby O’Neill, who played for Colombo from 1979-1982 and later served on his coaching staff. “He was absolutely the greatest guy in the world to his family first, then to his coaching staff and the players. This is just such a sad day.”
A 1949 graduate of Bockton, Colombo went on to attend Stonehill and later was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame.
Colombo began his coaching career at Archbishop Williams in 1960 and spent nine years there, posting a 55-20-3 record. He returned home in 1969 and began what many feel is the greatest coaching run in state history.
The Boxers won nine Super Bowls under Colombo, four coming between 1984-1988 when they went an amazing 51-2 during that run. Mike Williams was a standout running back on that team and said Colombo served as a role model for him.
“He provided me with structure and that’s something I maintained to this day as I coach younger kids in the community,” Williams said. “Everyone loved playing for coach and we were very loyal to him. I remember one year when we went to play at Waltham and someone hit him with an egg before the game. He was so mad and we were so mad, we beat the bricks out of them that day.”
Colombo’s fiery sideline nature was legendary, but to those who knew him away from the field, he was just an ordinary person. Brett Gormley has been a neighbor of Colombo for 20 years and considers him a close friend.
“You would never know he was a great football coach, he never acted like that,” said Gormley, who attended Brockton High and had Colombo as a physical education teacher. “I remember when I first ran for school committee, he was the first person I went to with my nomination papers because he meant that much to me.”
Several coaches point to Colombo as an inspiration and prime reason why they chose to follow in his profession. One of those coaches is current Catholic Memorial coach John DiBiaso, who forged his own legacy in Everett before arriving at CM this year.
“For a lot of people around my age, Armond was a role model and we all aspired to be like him,” said DiBiaso, who is just one of five coaches with 300 career wins. “He was always very nice to me and very encouraging all the time. It’s a sad day for high school football in Massachusetts.”
In the later years, one of the biggest nonleague rivalries was the annual Brockton-Xaverian contest. Colombo always enjoyed butting heads with the Hawks and won his 300th game at the Hawk Bowl in 2000.
“It is special to win it here because it is so tough to do,” Colombo said following the 17-7 win. “I have a great deal of respect for the Xaverian coaches and players.”
Colombo’s countepart that day at Xaverian was Charlie Stevenson. In a historical twist, Stevenson earned his milestone 200th win at Brockton in 2016, which would be his last year on the sidelines. He shared the same respect for Colombo and the Brockton legacy.
“Brockton had great players and great teams, but that’s due in large part to Armond,” Stevenson said. “As far as I am concerned, he’s the greatest high school football coach in (Massachusetts) history.”