Just ask her.
She won’t hide her pride. Not for her husband. No way.
That’s because Bill Brubaker has done all the things as a husband, father, and as an educator and mentor for more than 45 years at The Linsly School. It’s his success as the private school’s swim coach, though, that proves “Bru” was transformational for the sport not only for the Cadets’ historic program but also throughout the Upper Ohio Valley.
Because his teams won? Oh my, yes, he and his Cadets sure did win.
Before retiring from teaching and coaching just a few years ago, Brubaker collected 40 boys and girls OVAC titles while coaching four All-Americans, was named the organization’s Coach of the Year, and was inducted into the OVAC’s Hall of Fame in 2014. The conference’s end-of-year competition, in fact, was renamed the “OVAC Bill Brubaker Swimming Championships” the year before.
“’Bru’ is a consummate professional and Linsly is in his DNA,” explained his wife, Terre. “He deeply believes in the ideals Linsly promotes (like) academic excellence, responsibility, integrity, respect for order and rules, developing leaders, and honor. He will as long as he can because it means so much to him.
“His swimming accomplishments he considers just his job and what he does for work,” she said. “He’s proud, but humble, and Linsly is the only place he has ever taught. Linsly has been his life.”
And all because of a chance meeting with former Headmaster Reno DiOrio.
Brubaker was a four-year letterman in swimming at Mechanicsburg High and a four-year letterman at West Virginia University where he served as team captain and won the John Law Award as the outstanding senior swimmer. Once he earned an Education and Teaching degree from WVU, he spent a year as an assistant coach in Morgantown before a chance meeting with DiOrio in August 1980.
DiOrio, meanwhile, was collecting a “Dream Team” of educators and coaches soon after accepting the task of transitioning Linsly Military Institute to a college preparatory academy in 1979, and names like Buchwach, Wilson, Smith, Depew, Church, Plumby, Sprague, and Hon are now legendary on the Leatherwood campus.
Brubaker was invited to apply, got the job, began his career at Linsly in 1980, and he, too, is on Linsly’s “Mount Rushmore” of educators.
“Wow, was he dedicated when I was one of his team,” said Mark Bond, a member of Linsly’s Class of 1985 who was a four-year, letter-winning swimmer. “He was extraordinarily dedicated to his students and his swim teams, and it’s been incredible to watch his success through the years. His devotion to the sport and to his students has never wavered. Truly impressive.
“He worked to spread swimming to as many schools in the area, too, and I believe he’s one of the main reasons why you see swim teams at so many different high schools in the valley today,” he said. “He’s a terrific person, too, and Linsly has been lucky to have him there for so long.”
Home Sweet Home
Teachers didn’t just teach, and coaches didn’t just coach. Not when the Brubaker family moved in along Leatherwood Lane to be part of the school’s transformation to college prep, and that’s why he’s filled more than 20 different roles during his stellar tenure.
‘Bru’ was dorm master for nine years in the 1980’s, the lower-school and upper-school swim coach up until a few years ago, and he even assisted in Junior Varsity baseball for a couple of seasons. He’s also advised the school’s History Club and Model United Nations club, and he’s been the Social Studies Department Chair and Physical Education Department Chair.
And let’s not forget the thousands of students and parents he’s academically advised and personally counseled over the years.
“We lived on campus when we were first married, and it was the boys’ dorm (Weiss Hall),” Terre recalled. “We stayed there until our daughter, Katy, was 18 months old. That’s one of the big reasons why Linsly has always been about family for us.
“We grew up there and so did our children, and that campus was our home,” she said. “Katy and Will did very well with their educations and are very successful with their careers and families, and that’s because Linsly prepared our children for college and life.”
And it all began for “Bru” with a 175,000-gallon predicament.
“The biggest highlight of my first year took place on the day of our first meet of the season,” Brubaker recalled. “We were supposed to swim against Marietta High School, and one of our members came up to me to tell me the pool was empty.
“I thought the kids were messing with me,” he said. “But when I went down to see for myself, it was bone dry. The system malfunctioned because of a power surge or something, and 175,000 gallons of water disappeared.
“That sure was an interesting day.”
The past few years, though, Brubaker has backed away from his strict regimen, and now Jim Merinar guides the school’s swimming program and teaches in both the mathematics and science departments.
“For the past few years, I’ve been the assistant dean of attendance, and I proctor the study halls, and I cover a lot of classes when necessary,” he explained. “My wife is a little younger than I am and she’s still teaching, so I decided to continue in those roles to stay involved.
“It keeps me out of trouble during that day,” he chuckled. “Linsly has been a part of our lives for a lot of years, and I’m sure we’ll stay connected for a lot of years to come.”
On Purpose
That blue blazer has been the anchor of the school uniform from the beginning of the college prep era, and The Aviator statue has watched over Linsly campuses since the early 1900s.
That’s because some things may never change along Knox Lane, but an evolution is quite evident on campus these days.
As the Class of 2026 prepares for their long-awaited commencement this Sunday, there’s a new dorm (Simmons Hall) under construction and Linsly’s leaders have initiated a tuition reset so the school remains accessible to talented students throughout the region.
“Linsly has changed with the times in a lot of ways, but the goals have always remained the same. The educators and administrators here at Linsly are responsible for getting our students ready for their next step,” Brubaker said. “But Linsly is still Linsly because our goals through the years have stayed the same. We’re a college preparatory school and have been since the school switched from military to what we’ve been for the past 45 years or so.
“In the very beginning, when my wife and I first came to campus, there were growing pains for sure, but I’m not sure how much the outside world knew because the school had been here for a long time. Linsly was a constant in Wheeling,” he said. “But the public started figuring it out after they saw our students in their blazers and ties when we traveled for sporting events and other activities. Our students definitely stood out from others, that’s for sure.”
At the time Brubaker joined the school’s faculty, Linsly was boys-only in its lower and upper school with a total student population of about 250. This Sunday, Linsly will graduate 89 young men and women after 99 students turned their tassels last year.
“It is great to see the growth, and seeing the new dorm under construction reminds me of when we first came to the campus and lived in Weiss Hall for those nine years,” Brubaker said. “We’ve seen a couple of new dorms be built, and this one is larger than the others because of what’s expected in the future.
“During my tenure at Linsly, I have seen the addition of the dorms, the fieldhouse, the (Williams) Visual Arts Center, Alumni Hall, the museum, the new residence for the Head of School, and there have been a few other additions, too,” he said. “All of that growth lets you know you were part of something.”
The 57-acre campus features several dorms, athletic fields and facilities, an 80,000-foot academic building, a conference center, a tech-rich library and research center, the natatorium, and faculty housing, and the college preparatory curriculum can be intimidating.
“I would advise the parents to talk to their student to let them know that Linsly is going to be a little more difficult than the things they’ve done before, and I’d tell them to be there for their kids during the bumpy parts on the way to being successful,” Brubaker explained. “And I would tell the student about the sacrifice the parents are making so they can have the opportunities they have when they come to Linsly.
“Whether a child is a dorm student or not, you have to realize what the education and the atmosphere is preparing you for and what you’ll be able to accomplish once you’re a graduate,” he said. “We have graduates come back to school for certain functions a few times every year, and when the students learn about their successes, it has an impact on them. It lets them know what they’re part of, and that the hard work is worth the hours spent doing what they had to do in order to achieve.”
“As a teacher and a coach, one of the best parts is to see former students be successful because their success lets us know we did OK.”
(Cover photo by Stacey Creely)
