Richard Italo Colombini was born in the former Santa Rosa General Hospital on July 25, 1931, to Italian immigrant Egidio "Gene" and Emma Colombini, of Sonoma County's deeply rooted Barbieri family. Dick Colombini was a standout athlete at Cardinal Newman High School and Santa Rosa Junior College. At USF, he was a member of the NDTA for two years and was among the 33 players on the 1951 Dons undefeated varsity team.
Though indomitable on the field, Colombini and his teammates are hailed mostly for what they did after they won every game by an average score of 33-8 and then were invited to the Orange Bowl in Florida - only to be told by bowl sponsors that the Dons' two black players, stars Burl Toler and Ollie Matson, would have to stay home. They said no. "Ollie and Burl were our teammates," Colombini said in 2011. "We went to school together. We practiced together. We played games together. We did everything together. Now they want us to leave two players home? We said that it was not right, and we refused to do so. It was no question in our minds SRPressDemocrat)."
He started a commercial construction company in 1947, which built banks, churches, stores, office buildings, wineries and other significant structures throughout Sonoma County and the region. These included Santa Rosa's historic St. Rose Church, Rancho Cotate and Cardinal Newman high schools, the four-story bank building at 111 Santa Rosa Avenue, the Waterfall Towers complex, the Channel 50 TV studios, and the Simi, Sonoma Cutrer and Geyser Peak wineries.
He also started a Monday Night Football Club in the 1970s, limiting it to nine friends who took turns hosting dinner and drinks on game night.
He graduated in Business in 1954 and went into the Army at the end of the Korean War. He played a good deal of football while serving as a 1st Lieutenant in the Transportation Corps in Virginia, having been a member of the NDTA at USF. He then returned to Santa Rosa in 1956 and worked as an apprentice in his father's construction company. He became a partner to his dad in 1962, eventually rising to president and employing his two sons. He gave back generously to Sonoma County through volunteer work, donations and direct aid to individuals.Â
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NATIONAL DEFENSE TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION
The NDTA was organized by Lt. Colonel William Foster last year. He became the first faculty sponsor for this organization which restricts its membership to upper division students in the Transportation Corps of the ROTC. The officers this year were President Burk W. Jones, First Vice-President Ed Boscacci, Second Vice-President Jim Whitney, and Secretary-Treasurer James Coleman.
The members of this Chapter, mindful of the vital importance of military transportation, have joined together to gain information and encourage improvements in the science of transportation in its relation to military requirements. The objects of this Chapter are, therefore, to collect and disseminate useful knowledge with respect to military transportation and related subjects and to foster a spirit of good will and cooperative endeavor among its members (TheDon).
