If you’ve walked the halls of Founders at any point in the past 60 years, either Coach Bob Colburn has been a part of your life, or you at a minimum are aware of the impact he has had on this community over the years. Coach Colburn has worked at St. Andrew’s since 1960, and has served as a teacher, advisor, dorm parent, and athletics director—coaching St. Andrew’s baseball all the while. He’s also been deeply involved in Delaware high school baseball and the Delaware Baseball Coaches Association (DBCA) for these six decades. Colburn was in the inaugural induction class when the Delaware Baseball Hall of Fame opened in 1994 (and the only high school coach in that cohort), and he was inducted into the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.

His latest honor will ensure that Coach Colburn is recognized every spring in the state of Delaware: this winter, DBCA decided to rename the state’s high school all-star game—long known as the Delaware Blue/Gold Game—after Colburn. “Everyone knows about his place in St. Andrew’s history,” said Dave Battafarano, head baseball coach at Delcastle Technical High School and Colburn’s DBCA colleague. “When I started at Decastle 20 years ago, we began to scrimmage and play St. Andrew’s every year. Coach Colburn would always talk about baseball, give advice, and help other coaches on opposing teams. He had such a passion for the sport and we all learned so much from him. I wanted to make sure he was honored and would always be a part of Delaware baseball history.”

When Battafarano floated the idea to other coaches in the state to rename the all-star game to the “Bob Colburn Blue/Gold All-Star Game,” every other coach in the meeting was immediately on board. “[The discussion] was over Zoom and I was not expecting Coach Colburn to be on the call, but of course he came,” Battafarano called. “It worked out because when I made the announcement on the call, he was there to hear it. It was really special to share the news with him.” 

The dedication ceremony took place at Frawley Stadium in Wilmington, Delaware, before the first pitch of the “Coburn Game.” Of course, just prior to the ceremony, Coach Colburn was on the field, giving pointers to the starting pitcher.