Bartholomew had long career at Milwaukee South
Even in death, Bill Bartholomew left nothing to chance.
The family of the former Milwaukee South football coach planned to finalize his funeral arrangements Monday, but as one of his sons noted, pretty much everything was taken care of by then.
Bartholomew already had put together the game plan.
“He had the church service mapped out,” Mike Bartholomew said with a laugh. “He was a planner. You could tell. It was like a practice schedule. We want to do this. We want to do that.”
Bill Bartholomew died Sunday after battling multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that affected his kidneys. He was 83.
A member of the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association hall of fame, Bartholomew coached at South for 30 seasons (1964-93). Even in retirement, he never completely left the game, serving as an assistant coach at Concordia University, Kenosha Bradford and Oak Creek and then as an advisor to Mike, the former coach at Oak
Creek and a WFCA hall of famer himself.
Even after Mike left the area and became an assistant coach at a high school in Las Vegas, the father had the son's ear.
“Football, you never get away from it completely,” Bill Bartholomew told the Journal Sentinel in a 2017 interview.
Bill Bartholomew went 122133-5 at South and was the City Conference coach of the year in 1976. During his 30-plus years at the school, he also served as an assistant coach in wrestling, baseball and track and field.
He spent one year (1992) as the school's head track coach, and during his time as an assistant in the sport he helped South win state titles in 1975, '85, '86, '87, '88 and '89.
A 1955 South graduate, he was inducted into the WFCA hall of fame in 1995.
“The lessons that he taught on how to treat people prepared me for anything I ran into,” Mike Bartholomew said. “He was always such a great role model to me. Coaching is really nothing but relationships, and the way he treated people and the coaches he worked with, he was gold standard in that regard.”
Bill Bartholomew was preceded in death by his first wife, Karen, and son, Scott. He is survived by sons, Todd and Mike, daughter, Lynne, and his second wife, Doreen.
Bartholomew's battle with cancer lasted almost three years. He spent the last few weeks in hospice care at home.
“That's the way I think anyone wants to die, with as much dignity as you can,” Mike Bartholomew said. “That was his choice.”