Bill Moose Barbish

Ailing Barbish reveres his days at Rule

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This has been a bittersweet week for Bill "Moose" Barbish, linebacker on the 1951 University of Tennessee national championship football team.

Barbish, a former Rule High School football coach, had his 71st birthday Sunday.However, he is bedridden with terminal cancer and has only days to live, said his wife Mabel.Friends, family and former teammates have been phoning and stopping by the Barbishes home in Lenoir City.

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Barbish grew up in what he describes as a ghetto area in Cleveland, Ohio.His parents, who were immigrants from Italy, could only speak Slovenian.As a result, he didn't learn English until grammar school.

Barbish was recruited to play football at UT, but he stuttered, took remedial college classes and struggled academically.However, he was determined to get his college degree.

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After serving in the Army in Korea, and a brief career in the Canadian Football League, Barbish returned to Knoxville and got a job as an assistant football coach at Rule.He became head coach, but was forced out of coaching twice by heart problems.However, he couldn't stay away from the athletic program and volunteered his services as a fundraiser, press box worker and equipment man.He said being around kids kept him young.

He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1994, had a stroke the same year and suffered a heart attack in 1995.Doctors discovered signs of cancer again in April 2001.

"I know I'm going to die but I'm not afraid to die," Barbish said a few weeks ago.

"I've had a good life.I think about so many of the students and players I had at Rule.That's one of the things in my life I'm most proud of, that I was able to help those students."

Get Copyright ClearanceCopyright 2002 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co.

Barbish, who played on championship team at Tennessee in 1951, dies at 71

By News-Sentinel staffJuly 25, 2002

A Mass is set Friday morning at All Saint's Catholic Church for Bill "Moose" Barbish, who played on the University of Tennessee's 1951 national championship football team.Barbish, 71, died Tuesday at his home in Lenoir City after a lengthy bout with cancer.

Barbish, the son of immigrants who spoke only Slovenian, grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and was a high school standout in football, baseball and track.He came to UT on an athletic scholarship, but missed his ethnic neighborhood and described his arrival in East Tennessee as "cultural shock."However, he admitted it saved his life because it took him away from gangs and violence.

He soon become fond of East Tennessee and returned to Knoxville several years after graduating from college.He was a popular teacher and coach for many years at Rule High School.

The family will receive friends Friday from 9:30 to 10:15 a.m at All Saint's Catholic Church on North Cedar Bluff Road.The Mass is at 10:30 a.m.

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