When Thomas J. Giblin was the Boston College football team’s 13-year-old ball boy, he boarded a special nine-car train with his parents and hundreds of BC fans at South Station for a trip to the 1940 Cotton Bowl game in Dallas.
That was the beginning of what he referred to as his eight-decade love affair with the college.
When he received the John P. Curley Award in 2015 for outstanding service and support to the college, Dr. Giblin spoke of his passionate support of BC’s athletics and athletes, many of whom became lifelong friends after he hosted them as guests in his Wellesley home when they were recruits and players.
“I have loved the entire experience. I am deeply touched that so many of you have made the effort to come back to this place that means so much to all of us,’’ he said. “It is the wonderful memories I have of our years together, and our shared love of BC, that keeps me returning to the Heights.’’
Dr. Giblin, who traveled the country with BC’s football and basketball teams and was a three-sport season ticket holder, died of Parkinson’s disease Monday in his Wellesley home. He was 90 and spent winters in Naples, Fla.
“We met in 1979, a year after I graduated from BC, when we were both involved with the BC basketball fan club,’’ recalled Andy Boynton, dean of the college’s Carroll School of Management. “He treated me and everyone with such respect, and that left a great impression on me — along with his great sense of humor and positive outlook.’’
Dr. Giblin’s den at home was a must-see for visiting Eagles coaches and players, including about 50 out-of-towners each Thanksgiving when his wife, Dr. Joan Giblin, would cook five large turkeys.
The décor included a maroon and gold rug, maroon and gold Naugahyde furniture, BC wall clocks, plaques, drapes, and an Eagle mirror.
“If you were homesick and needed someone to talk to, you knew you had a second home with the Giblins,’’ said Dave Freitag, a 1973 BC graduate and basketball player. “They were family to me, and I was at the weddings of all their children.’’
Barry Gallup, senior associate athletic director at BC, said that “as a young coach and football recruiting coordinator, I remember bringing many recruits to his home for dinner. Tom’s passion for his Eagles left a very strong impression.’’
More importantly, Gallup added, “Tom and Joan built relationships with these student-athletes and helped guide them during their transition to college.’’
The Giblins were among the founders of the Blue Chips, a group that supported BC athletics and is currently known as the Flynn Fund.
After his wife died in 2000, Dr. Giblin established the Joan S. and Thomas J. Giblin ’50 athletic scholarship fund to provide financial assistance to a football or men’s basketball player.
Dr. Giblin was “the kindest person you would ever want to meet,’’ said Charlie Smith, a close friend who graduated from BC in 1966.
“He was always interested in the well-being of his friends and was gracious and humble, and I have tried to follow his example,’’ added Smith, a former BC football player who cofounded the Blue Chips.
A specialist in obstetrics and gynecology who delivered more than 6,000 babies, Dr. Giblin kept an office in Waltham. He formerly was the director of the gynecological clinics at BC and Regis College, and was a clinical instructor at Tufts University School of Medicine and Boston University School of Medicine.
Two of his five children are doctors — Walter, a dermatologist in Chevy Chase, Md., and James, a urologist in Wheaton, Ill.
“Our dad felt medicine was a calling to serve others, and he did so with great joy,’’ James said. “I can remember being with him at high school basketball games watching future BC athletes when his beeper would go off and he would head to the hospital. I was drawn to medicine by his example.’’
Born in Boston, Thomas James Giblin Jr. was a son of Dr. Thomas J. Giblin Sr. and the former Catherine O’Shea. Thomas Sr. was a dentist whose office was on the first floor at 476 Commonwealth Ave., close to Fenway Park. The family lived in the building’s top three floors.
The elder Dr. Giblin was the football team dentist for BC, whose players often came to the dental office in an era when football helmets did not have facemasks.
The family’s proximity to professional sports helped turn young Thomas into a fan in the 1930s. “When dad went to bed at night he could look out at Fenway Park, and he became a loyal Red Sox fan,’’ said another of Dr. Giblin’s sons, Thomas III, of Shrewsbury.
Dr. Giblin graduated from Boston College High School and, after spending a year at St. John’s Seminary, decided to pursue a career in medicine.
After graduating from Boston College, he met Joan Stapleton of Bridgeport, Conn., when they both were attending Georgetown University School of Medicine. They married in 1955.
His wife, an anesthesiologist who hailed from a family of University of Notre Dame football players, gave up her practice to raise their children.
Dr. Giblin donated much of his vast collection of scrapbooks and BC memorabilia to his alma mater, for which he passionately rooted.
“I played basketball at Holy Cross, and if I scored, Mom and Dad would clap politely,’’ their son Tom recalled, “but if BC scored, they were more enthusiastic.’’
Tom added that “the first time I saw Dad cry was when BC beat undefeated Notre Dame on a last-second field goal in 1993, after which he said to me, ‘All I need now is for the Red Sox to win the World Series and I can die peacefully.’ So we bought him a shirt after they won the 2004 World Series with ‘Red Sox Win Championship’ on the front and ‘Now I can die in peace,’ on the back.’’
Dr. Giblin, who retired in 1993, married Katherine Cotter in 2003.
In addition to his wife and sons Thomas, James, and Walter, Dr. Giblin leaves his daughters, Katherine Stark of Middletown, R.I., and Joan McCabe of Weston; his brother, Gerrald, of Washington, D.C.; a stepson, David Cotter of Oakland, Calif.; a stepdaughter, Susan Shain of Merrimac; 18 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
A funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m. Monday in St. Ignatius of Loyola Church on the Boston College campus. Burial will be in Holyhood Cemetery in Brookline.
Katherine said her father often sent handwritten notes to his grandchildren, encouraging each of them, in their own way, to “stay the course, continue to work hard, believe in themselves, aim high, always stay close to God and family and see the best in people — and always keep your sense of humor.’’
Marvin Pave can be reached at marvin.pave@rcn.com.
