From playing as the quarterback on Wesleyan’s football team and graduating with the first class of majors in the College of Social Studies, to serving as the Alumni Director for 33 years and traveling around the world to connect with Wesleyan alumni, John Driscoll ’62 enjoyed a unique, lifelong connection to the University until his death in June at the age of 82.
Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1940 and raised in Westchester County, John came to Middletown as an undergraduate and eventually moved back in 1982 as the Alumni Director, a position which capitalized on his innate ability to build interpersonal relationships and spread his passion for Wesleyan.
“He was exceedingly proud of being an alumnus,” said John’s wife, Gina, who works in Alumni and Parent Relations. “He was also very proud of being an administrator. He met many, many people. And he made an impact [on] many. And all of it was done one person at a time, over a period of 33 years.”
John connected and engaged with alumni around the globe and worked closely with the Freeman Asian Program, creating strong relationships with alumni and scholars in Asia. The Freeman Driscoll Endowed International Scholarship was created in his honor in 2015 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the program.
Throughout his professional career at Wesleyan, John’s dedication to the football team continued. He regularly attended practices, traveled with the team to away games, and connected players to alumni every chance he got. He remained deeply involved with the team for decades, and his absence is felt acutely among those who knew him in the athletics department.
“John came to every practice,” Head Football Coach Dan DiCenzo said. “Every single practice. He was our biggest fan. A true Wesleyan Cardinal in every sense of the phrase.”
In fact, a lot of the players referred to him as “Coach Driscoll,” bestowing him with an affectionate title and a marker of the immense esteem they held for him.
Athletic Director Mike Whalen ’83 recalls John’s presence as being integral to the success of the football program. “John went out of his way to support me and my staff in creating a championship culture within the football program….When I close my eyes, I can still hear his booming voice shouting “LET’S GO WES!”
This was John’s signature cry, one that the players and coaches recognized every time he’d shout it from the bleachers.
“His support was unrivaled and his commitment to Wesleyan University as a whole was unmatched,” former Wesleyan assistant and current Bates head football coach Matt Coyne ’12 said. “I will hold my memories and conversations close, and I appreciate how lucky I was to have the Wesleyan Legend as a mentor."
John prided himself in building connections with the students he met during his years as an administrator. Joe Giaimo ’11, who played as the quarterback for the football team, remembers first meeting John at his first-year orientation, where John taught the Class of 2011 the Wesleyan Fight Song, a tradition he loved to share with incoming students.
“He became a source of inspiration for us and someone we depended on having around,” Giaimo said. “It was during those years under Coach Whalen where we resurged and turned around the program, so I believe he felt more engaged than ever knowing he played a role in our success. We just always loved having him around with us and on the sidelines cheering us on with his trademark "GO WES" chants.”
John took the students he met under his wing as much as he could. Gina described how one year, he went for a walk on Thanksgiving and came back with a member of the football team, having invited him to dinner. The next year, more students — many of whom were international — joined the Driscoll’s at their Thanksgiving table. The tradition continued until they no longer had room to feed everyone and had to host Thanksgiving in Downey House instead, with dining services providing meal assistance.
“We truly felt the students and indeed the community were an extension of our family,” Gina explained. “Our close and special friends today are those whom we were privileged to meet and get to know at Wesleyan.
Alumnus Brian Glenn ’91 emphasized that few people love Wesleyan the way that John did. “For most of us, when we graduate, Wesleyan becomes a place of memories, or a projection of what we want it to be,” Glenn said. “But not for John. Wesleyan was the people who were there at the moment….I know he saw it as a place that was alive, constantly being reborn…”
Indeed, people ranging from students to faculty to staff to alumni to President Michael Roth ’78 knew John, whether it was through work or football or him walking around campus talking to the people he passed.
“John had the great gift of making everyone in the Wesleyan community feel welcome and appreciated,” Roth wrote in an announcement after John’s death. “We will hold him warmly in our memories as an inspiration and a reminder of what it means to act with generosity of spirit.”
Wesleyan has indeed recognized John’s immense contributions to the community. When he retired in 2015, he became the first administrator in Wesleyan history to receive emeritus status. Then, in 2017 at the 185th commencement ceremony, John and Gina received the Raymond E. Baldwin Medal for extraordinary service to the University, the highest honor the Alumni Association bestows. In 2019, the Driscoll Gate on Andrus field was named in his honor.
“[John was] one of the best humans Wesleyan has ever graduated...we have been blessed to call him friend,” said Seta Nazarian ’79 P'13, who met John when he became Alumni Director. “He will be missed by generations of Wesleyan students.”