Don Jay Bunge

Don Jay Bunge, 100, passed away peacefully on September 3, 2023, in his Bremen, Indiana, home where he lived since 1955.  Don was born July 22, 1923, in DeKalb County, Indiana, the third of six children of Jay and Oma Ashleman Bunge.  Growing up during the Great Depression, he learned to take responsibility early in life.   As a young boy, his father gave him a long list of chores he had to accomplish each day.  Only occasionally, he finished in time to run off to his favorite spot, the river, to fish or swim.  By the time he turned eleven, his life-long philosophy, “Get up and get movin’,” had to be implemented.  He began working at a nearby dairy earning $2.50 a week plus two gallons of milk for his family.  By age thirteen, it was his job to drive the milk truck around town every morning at 5:00 a.m.  delivering milk bottles to families’ doorsteps before school.  Often, he worked from 4:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and in the summer, sometimes ninety hours a week--still only earning $2.50 plus two gallons of milk. He said he was blessed to have sports available to him when he began high school.  This allowed him to work less and play baseball, basketball and run track “on the grass behind the school.”  There was no formal football program, but he broke his collar bone playing pick-up football with friends “in the empty lot down by the railroad.”    A 1941 graduate of Waterloo High School, he enrolled at Indiana Central College (now the University of Indianapolis), spending three semesters there prior to enlisting with the United States Army in 1943 and proudly serving in the South Pacific during World War II. A paratrooper with the 11th Airborne Division, Don would later jokingly observe – correctly – that the first time he flew in an airplane, he jumped out of it. His war service, though, also provided him with a sense of humility and perspective: years later, when reflecting on the fact that his division would likely have been among the first to participate in a land invasion of Japan, he would remark how fortunate he was to return home safely from a war when many other young men his age did not. After the war, Don re-enrolled at Indiana Central, where he captained the basketball and baseball teams and was proud to be the captain of the football team when they won their first conference championship in 1947. His experiences with Indiana Central’s integrated athletics programs included numerous all-night road trips with his teammates through the segregated south, providing him with an inclusive worldview and reinforcing the value of being a team. As an upperclassman, he met fellow ICC student Janeice Shockley and immediately told his friends that she was the one that he would marry. After several months enjoying dances at the Indiana Roof Ballroom and Jan cheering for him at ICC games, his words proved true, and they were married in Kokomo on Easter Sunday, 1947. Walkerton, Indiana was where Don started his coaching and teaching career in 1948.  He was hired as their basketball coach and started their baseball and track programs. Don and Jan moved to Bremen in 1952, where Don accepted the position of the high school’s basketball coach and biology teacher. He started Bremen’s track and cross-country programs and said the records at Bremen he was most proud of were the accomplishments of the track teams.  He was best known, though, for re-starting the school’s football program in 1955. Football had been suspended in 1907 by many schools in the United States because it was deemed too dangerous.  Bremen’s coach for 33 years, Don was the beginning point of the “Long Green Line” of the Bremen Lion football program, guiding generations of players on the field that would eventually bear his name. Don relished the underdog role that the program provided him and his boys, being the David among the Goliaths of the Northern Lakes Conference.  Coach Bunge made it a point to know every player personally, and as their leader knew it was his responsibility to encourage (demand) they persevere through adversity with a positive attitude.  Don insisted each player understood the importance of his performance to the team’s success.  He believed football taught values that lead to becoming a stronger, more confident student, family member, community member, employee and leader. Hard work was what earned his boys the right to be proud to represent their community when they suited up for the green and white Bremen Lions. Ask them, they will tell you.  Don came out of retirement to help lead Bremen to the 1989 Class A State Football Championship.  He was honored again to be in the coaching lineup at the 1994 Class AA State Football Championship.  Among his many other accomplishments, Don was named a Sagamore of the Wabash in 1974, elected to the Indiana Football Hall of Fame in 1988 and inducted into the University of Indianapolis Athletics Hall of Fame in 1994.Best known simply as “Coach” in the Bremen community, Don was also proud to be called husband, father, and grandfather.  He frequently stated that the happiest moments of his life were next to his wife, Jan. Their Bremen home, warmed by the fireplace, supplied with wood, often chopped by Don himself, was the site of numerous holiday gatherings and Friday night post-game meetings, where friends and family alike would gather to recap a game over a freshly baked pie or a hot bowl of chili soup. His grandchildren can happily recount picking giant tomatoes and green beans with him in the garden, play-wrestling matches on the living room floor, summers riding the tandem bicycle, getting seasick on the boat, sledding near the railroad tracks, cheers from the sideline at their own athletic events, and the nurturing and loving environment that he and Jan built for the Bunge family during their 70 years of marriage.  A faith-filled man, Don was a member of the Bremen United Methodist Church and previously the Grace United Methodist Church in Bremen. He held numerous offices in the church and served many years as the custodian.  His later years were spent tending his vegetable garden, fishing with family and friends, taking numerous trips to Florida with his wife, and traveling to UIndy football games accompanied by his most loyal companion, his son, Jay. Football remained central to his life; he rarely missed practice, even in retirement, taking the same two-block walk from his home to the school that he had taken every day for nearly 70 years. Up until he was ninety-five years old, he had missed only one Bremen football game. Don recently celebrated his 100th birthday surrounded by his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, who traveled from as far away as California, Florida, and Paris to be with him in his beloved Bremen, that ”Good Town” of students, players, coaches and all who gave him the opportunity to live a wonderful life. Don is survived by his five children, Susan (David) Henry of Tampa, Fla., Cynthia (Michael) Miley of Plymouth, Ind., Melinda McIntosh of Kalamazoo, Mich., Shayne (James) Burns of Angola, Ind., and Don Jay Bunge, Jr., of Bremen; his eight grandchildren, Brenna (Lt Col William) Sands, Nephi Jay (Kim Matheson) Henry, Jared (Tanei) Henry, Jordan (Elise) Henry, Margaret (Gregory) Miley-Touney, Matthew Miley, Brooke Davis, Jay McIntosh; his 15 great-grandchildren, William, Samuel, Hallie and Adele Sands; Jared and Rebekah Berkey; Nohealani, Mei, Eli and Micah Henry; Hugh and Arthur Henry; Florence and George Touney; Lennox Greeley; and two great-grandchildren expected in the next few months. Don was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, Janeice, his siblings, Alice Gaye Eulitt, Eloise Eberhard, Dale Bunge, Beverly Hefley, and Carol Ann Glant, and his son-in-law, Jesse McIntosh. A private family graveside service will be held.  A Community Memorial Service with time for sharing stories will be held Sunday, October 1, 2023 at 2:00 p.m., in the Bremen High School Auditorium.  The family will begin receiving guests at noon.   Memorial contributions can be made to the Bremen High School Football Program, 511 W. Grant St., Bremen, IN 46506.