Recently Immaculate High School held a special celebration for beloved coach and Bethel resident Robert Plumb and announced that it was naming its gym The Coach Robert “Bobby” Plumb Gymnasium.
It was a bittersweet night for Robert Plumb and the entire Immaculate High School (IHS) family as everyone gathered to celebrate Coach Plumb’s 33 years of teaching and coaching at IHS as well as his official retirement from coaching.
Prior to the Tip-Off Classic that saw the IHS Mustang boys varsity basketball team compete against Danbury High School (55-44 Danbury), a reception was held to give Coach Plumb’s exuberant fans a chance to extend their sentiments and share memories personally, and then an emotional recognition ceremony was held in a packed gymnasium to officially say thank you for all of his years of coaching service. The biggest surprise of the night was the dedication of the IHS gym as the The Robert “Bobby” Plumb Gymnasium.
Coach Plumb started with Immaculate High School in 1983, and served many roles at the Catholic high school. He coached freshman boys basketball for most of those years, and served briefly as coach or assistant coach for the junior varsity and varsity teams. Coach Plumb was also Athletic Director for five years and a football coach for 14 years (freshman, and varsity assistant and head coach). While retiring from coaching, he will remain at IHS as its physical education teacher.
In 2011, Coach Plumb was inducted into the Immaculate High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
Serious about coaching IHS student-athletes to achieve their fullest potential, Coach Plumb notes that while he is very competitive, it wasn’t always about winning. “I hope that I taught more than just the game to the student-athletes; the life lessons that are learned on the fields and courts all mimic life -- the ups, the downs, overcoming adversity,” Coach Plumb said.
“I am a firm believer in ‘everyone is not a winner’ but that everyone has the opportunity to win,” he added. “Everyone just doesn't get a trophy, the A+ in class, the job promotion, etc. -- it's about hard work and earning what you get in life,” Coach Plumb stressed. He particularly enjoys the bond and camaraderie that develops between players and coaches.
Coach Plumb was always passionate and loyal to the programs and players he has coached during his three-plus decades at Immaculate High School. According to the seasoned coach, it wasn’t hard. “When you love the place you work at, the job you have and the people you work with, it’s never considered ‘work,’ it’s more of a passion,” he said.
There were many memorable games and people during his tenure, but according to Coach Plumb, his best times included winning the WCC and State football championships in 1986, winning the WCC basketball championship in 1986, winning the SWC and State basketball championships in 2012 and winning the State basketball championship in 2016. “Most important, the best thing was building the friendships and relationships with the coaches and players,” Coach Plumb said. In 2010, he guided the freshman Mustangs to an undefeated 16-0 basketball season.
The honest coach said that while he disliked losing more than he enjoyed winning, he loved the competitive chess match between the opponents’ coaches and himself. Another favorite thing about coaching, according to Coach Plumb, “was seeing a group of total strangers -- individuals from different schools, ethnic backgrounds and walks of life -- work together to become one cohesive unit, and then see the satisfaction and joy on their faces, the sense of accomplishment when they were successful as an individual and collectively as a unit win or lose: I was happy too, as long as they had given it their all,” he said.
“Immaculate High School sincerely thanks Coach Plumb for giving ‘his all’ to us; the best way we could show our appreciation was to dedicate the gymnasium to him,” said Mary Maloney, Interim Principal and President of the school. “He will be missed as a coach, but we are grateful that he will still ‘coach’ his students on how to win the game of life while serving as our physical education teacher here. We hope Coach Plumb now has more time to spend with his wife Lisa and four children Bobby, Ashley, Brandy and Tyler, who are all Immaculate High School graduates and have been so generous sharing him with us,” she said.
Immaculate High School is a private Catholic college-preparatory institution serving students from 28 communities in Connecticut and New York. Founded in 1962, Immaculate High School also allows students to focus on their spiritual development, personal moral commitments and service to others. Located in Danbury, CT, Immaculate High School is part of the Diocese of Bridgeport’s parochial school system.
*Image courtesy of Immaculate High School