Don 'Pappy' Boulton was a 2nd dad to players he coached, devoted to family and wife

The covid-19 pandemic separated Donald “Pappy” Boulton from his wife for nearly a year, breaking his heart before claiming his life.

An Oakmont native, Boulton, 85, will be remembered across the Alle-Kiski Valley primarily as a football coach who led and motivated young men on the gridiron.

In college, he played at Louisville with Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Johnny Unitas; toward the end of his coaching career, he shared the field at Springdale with a fellow Western Pennsylvania football legend and his lifelong friend, Chuck Wagner.

He served his nation in the Air Force during the Korean War. He then attended Slippery Rock University, where he played football. Already a father at that point, and being older than his teammates, he gained the nickname “Pappy.”

Boulton died from complications due to covid Friday, a week after being admitted to the Pittsburgh VA Medical Center. He had just gotten his first vaccine dose on Jan. 14.

“It was a shock to all of us,” daughter Kathy Barlup, of Camp Hill, said.

Because of the pandemic, for the past 11 months Boulton was only able to see his wife, Joan, through the windows of her nursing home. The last time he saw her was on Nov. 10, their 30th anniversary.

Joan Boulton was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease five years ago. For the first three years, Boulton cared for her at their Springdale home.

“He took wonderful care of her,” said his daughter, Lynda Davis, of Allegheny Township. “I never seen a man so devoted and doing absolutely everything for his spouse. It was something.”

Joan Boulton has been living at Harmar Village, five minutes away from their home, for nearly two years. Because she suffered from tremors, he would go to feed her breakfast, lunch and dinner, and stay until she went to bed.

The pandemic forced those visits to stop.

“It was extremely hard on him. They were devoted. He was heartbroken every day,” Davis said. “He would go down to Harmar Village and sit in the parking lot in his car because he felt close to her because she was inside the building.”

Joan Boulton was diagnosed with covid in December. She was sick for about a month, Davis said. She’s received both vaccine doses.

Davis said her mother doesn’t know her husband is gone.

“She probably wouldn’t grasp it and understand,” she said.

Davis said her father’s underlying conditions of diabetes and Crohn’s disease, and kidney damage from diabetes, may have caused his condition to deteriorate. After a few days of good reports, on Wednesday they were told his oxygen levels were dropping, his lungs filling with fluid and his kidneys were shutting down.

“My personal feelings are I think people need to take it more seriously,” Davis said. “Wear the mask. Don’t feel like your rights are being infringed upon, wear the mask.”

Boulton’s family sees his legacy reflected in the community’s mourning of his loss.

“He was just adored by so many people that today people are reaching out, all of his former players from his early coaching days,” Davis said. “It’s just unbelievable to see how much he meant to so many people and the impact he has had on so many lives.”

West Deer native Mike O’Hare, 68, who now lives in North Carolina, was coached by Boulton in football and volleyball at West Deer High School. In 2019, he sponsored a $20,000 scholarship fund in Boulton’s honor for Deer Lakes students attending Slippery Rock University, their shared alma mater.

O’Hare’s former coach came back into his life in 2017, when he and his wife came to New Kensington for Boulton’s induction into the Alle-Kiski Valley Sports Hall of Fame.

“I wanted to honor him because of the impact he had on my life and everybody else’s life,” O’Hare said. “He was a leader. He made us do things we never thought we could do. You came out of there thinking you could conquer the world.”

Ted Paulovich, 75, of East Deer had the distinction of being Boulton’s first quarterback as head coach during his senior year in 1962. Boulton was a guest at his wedding in 1969.

“We’ve been fortunate to have him as a part of our life for this long,” he said. “A big thrill of my life was when Pappy was able to come and watch my boys play football when they were at Deer Lakes, which he did on quite a few occasions. That was a big thing to me.”

Joe Novosat, 73, of East Deer played for Boulton at East Deer-Frazer in the early 1960s.

“When I was in high school, he was almost like a second dad to me,” he said. “I have nothing but fond memories of him and how he touched our lives on and off the football field.”

Boulton left coaching for more than 20 years, during which he was an insurance salesman. Upon coming back to Western Pennsylvania, Wagner, his old friend, brought him back to the field to join him at Springdale.

“Chuck called him and said, ‘Let’s get the team back together.’ I think that was kind of their dream that they would be coaches together,” Davis said. “He always missed it. There was always a longing to get back in it.”

The longtime friends pioneered an extreme turnaround at Springdale.

“Pappy was Chuck (Wagner’s) sidekick. You couldn’t have one without the other,” said former Valley News Dispatch local sports editor Bill Beckner Jr. “Pappy was ornery and fun. He’d flash that gap-toothed smile, and you knew he knew something that you didn’t. He loved the kids and the team atmosphere.

“Springdale football was a family for a long time because of coaches like Chuck and Pappy — true gentlemen who did it for the right reasons.”

Jonathan Molnar, 34, of Lower Burrell was the quarterback of the 2003 Springdale team Boulton and Wagner lead to a championship title, a year after taking the team to the playoffs.

“There were a lot of kids that didn’t have it that great growing up,” Molnar said. “Those two were definitely able to talk to those kids and help them through with whatever they were going through — even if it wasn’t football related.”

Davis said Boulton’s children sometimes felt they were sharing him with his players.

“There were times I used to think that was more important to him,” she said. “The more I got to know his students, the players, and the conversations I would hear, I understood how much he meant to them and how they looked up to him. It kind of put that into perspective. I knew how important it was to him.”

Visitation for Donald Boulton will be from 2-7 p.m. Thursday at the Burket-Truby Funeral Home, 421 Allegheny Ave. in Oakmont. Masks and social distancing will be required, with no more than 25 people in the funeral home at a time.

Services will be private. Burial will be at Greenwood Memorial Park in Lower Burrell.