Bob Rabberman, longtime baseball coach at Council Rock North, was recognized prior to Saturday’s CRN/Holy Ghost Prep game. The three Rabberman brothers – Bob, Bill and Dick – have given countless hours to the Council Rock community. The following article is sponsored by Sterling Limousine of Wrightstown. Check out Diana Leferovich's photos of the event by clicking on the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/g/042316_holy_ghost_prep_vs_council_rock_north_dll
By Mary Jane Souder
Bob Rabberman called it the best day of his life.
Talk to anyone who knows the long-time Council Rock coach, and they will tell you it was well deserved.
Brothers Bob, Bill and Dick Rabberman have been fixtures in the school community, and prior to Saturday’s baseball game against Holy Ghost Prep, the Council Rock North baseball team presented Bob a Distinguished Service Award for more than 30 years of dedicated service to the program.
State Representatives Steve Santarsiero and Scott Petri presented a citation on behalf of the House of Representatives recognizing Rabberman’s years of dedication and commitment to the baseball community and high school.
Bob, diagnosed with Lewy body dementia, resigned at the close of the 2015 season, and coach Matt Schram came up with the idea of honoring the longtime coach with his team. The idea grew and Saturday’s dedication included alumni, former coaches as well as community members.
“He’s been with me since I’ve been here,” Schram said. “He’s not the spring chicken that he used to be, but in terms of the game, he watches the game and sees the game from the view of 50 years of coaching.
“So the kids would go up and talk to him – it’s just constant information, it’s constant education. He was like a father figure, but I called him my assistant coach. He stood next to me during every game, and although I made all the calls and all the decisions, I always looked at him and said, ‘What do you think?’ And you know what he said to me, ‘That’s a good call, that’s a good call.’
“I went to him for every decision we made, even during practices. He showed up for every practice. I joked around that he’s forgotten more baseball than I’ll ever know.”
A revered presence on the sidelines, Rabberman, a longtime employee of the school district, also coached basketball and football at Newtown Middle School. He was the coach of the Newtown Post 440 American Legion team for more than 20 years, coaching alongside his son Jeff for some of those years.
“He’s dedicated, he loves the kids, he loves Council Rock, but he coached them too,” Schram said. “He’d get on them if they weren’t doing things the right way. I could go on and on. He’s the lifeblood for us. He’s like a second father, and he loves that role.”
Former Council Rock South boys’ basketball coach John Easterly was one of many mentored by Bob Rabberman.
“Bob Rabberman was the first Rabberman I actually met,” said Easterly, whose first coaching job was at Newtown as the ninth grade basketball coach. “He coached at Newtown for years, and he was the junior high coach that prepared boys and girls to play at Council Rock. He has been a big part of the basketball program at Council Rock for many, many years.
“You knew there was something special with the brothers. When I first came into the school district, I was like, ‘These are people I want to associate with.’”
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The Rabberman brothers – all graduates of Council Rock - have been involved in sports all of their lives.
While Bob has been active in three sports, Dick and Bill have been tied closely to the basketball community at Council Rock.
“The three of them are a staple of the Council Rock community,” said Rock South athletic director Buff Radick. “They’ve been involved as high school athletes and then just continuing on after that in some capacity.
“I’ve seen a lot of families where multiple siblings have played in a school district and one comes back after college and gets involved but not all three. I think that’s what makes it unique.”
Dick Rabberman was a member of the first basketball team in the history of Council Rock in 1954. Although employed by Princeton University, he returned in 1982, serving as statistician for a list of boys’ basketball coaches that included Buddy Ortman, Dennis Matika, Radick and Easterly.
At one point, he was keeping stats for the boys and girls teams at both Rock North and Rock South.
“He brings a unique perspective to any of the programs here,” Radick said. “He doesn’t actually ask to do this, but he can speak to the kids about the beginnings of our program. How many people are able to do that?
“He can come in and say to kids, ‘Hey guys, there’s always another game. When I played there were eight games.’ The thing I really respected about him – all the basketball that he played and that he saw – when he was on my staff, he never pulled me aside to offer his opinion or anything. He just went ahead and did his job. He was extremely supportive, extremely loyal as well.
“When you talk about someone that is a Council Rock person, he’s the epitome of that. There’s no split involved. You look at some of our sports, some of our coaches – there’s a rivalry there, there’s gamesmanship, but he’s truly someone – we have two schools, but we’re Council Rock. He lives that. There are no ill feelings for one side or the other with him. It’s just been a pleasure to be around him.”
Easterly echoed similar sentiments.
“For me personally, Dick was a mentor,” the former Rock South coach said. “He’s a father figure not only to the coaches but to the players. Every year he would come in and he would talk to our freshmen players, our jayvee players, our varsity players and our coaches in a big practice at the beginning of the year, and he told his story.
“He always related it directly to whatever team we had that year. He finds something in the team that year that he relates to. The year we were dealing with the three young men dying in the car crash and two of them had played for us, so (that) year’s story was not only his history with Council Rock, but it was a story of perseverance, a story of dealing with adversity and loss and how you deal with that. As someone who’s been around that long, he has a lot of reference points for the kids and coaches to relate to.”
Bill Rabberman, a retired teacher in the Centennial School, has been a fixture on the sidelines of the Rock North girls’ basketball team.
“The Rabberman name is synonymous with Council Rock,” Rock North girls’ basketball coach Lou Palkovics said. “I don’t think you could say anything good about Council Rock schools or sports programs without mentioning the Rabberman name.
“They’re involved in some way. A program can’t feel like it’s going to be successful unless you have a Rabberman somehow involved with your program. That’s really how it is.”
Dick Rabberman initially served as the statistician for Palkovics until he moved with Radick to Rock South.
“When I found out I was losing Dick, I was like, ‘Okay, I either resign or I find another Rabberman,’ so we found Bill,” the Indians’ coach said. “He was a godsend.
“He not only means so much to the program, but to me. Don Dennis, who was my old assistant, and Bill Rabberman are like my two father figures. They’re the people I go to for advice.”
Coaching a girls’ team, according to Palkovics, is a lot different than coaching boys, and Bill Rabberman understands that.
“Most of my girls play other sports, and Bill is at everything,” Palkovics said. “He will text me walking out of a volleyball match saying, ‘So and so played really well today.’ Or ‘I’m was at a soccer game. Mikaela looked great. Make sure you congratulate her on a good game.’ He’s at every sporting event.
“I’d be lost without him, and I’m not just saying that. I don’t know if I could coach without him. He’s behind the scenes. He’s had a lot to do with getting girls into the Hall of Fame. Not everybody keeps the kind of stats he does. He’s just a great resource.
“I’ve never played a team I haven’t scouted before or seen, but there are times you could play a team coming in from Maryland and we don’t have anything on them. He’ll have something the next day. It will be the stats on every girl, it will be the last three games. It’s amazing.”
In November of 2014, the three brothers were the guests of honor and spoke at the Council Rock South-Council Rock North senior football dinner.
“I’ve known Dick, Bill and Bob since I was a scrawny ninth grader in 1968,” said John Donohoe, who organized the event. “Through the years as I’ve been an active sponsor and benefactor to Council Rock football and later to Council Rock South football after the split, and the Rabbermans have been one constant – always doing the jobs (behind the scenes) that are necessary for a successful program.
“Dick, Bill and Bobby epitomize what it is to be a ‘CR Guy,’ and Council Rock has been very luck to have them. I am honored to call them friends.”
Those who known the Rabberman brothers best say their impact can’t be measured.
“They have been a dedicated family to the well being of Council Rock sports for many years and have left their imprint on many young men and women,” Rock North athletic director Dan Griesbaum said.
“They’ve molded so many of us without even knowing it,” Radick added. “Just by being there, they’ve had a positive effect on us, and it just carries on.
“That’s what you hope will happen when you have people like that who have been around long enough and have an impact on the current coaches and players, and then when they come back, they can carry on what they’ve learned. You don’t consciously think of that every day. When you have the type of effect they’ve had, it carries over, and it’s wonderful.”
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