DaytonDailyNews.com

Bill Gunlock was supposed to be listening to former Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler discuss the Ohio State-Michigan game today at a noon meeting of the Dayton Agonis Club, not be one of the pall bearers at his funeral.

"He was my best friend," said Gunlock, who had known Schembechler for 60 years. "It's tough saying goodbye."

Gunlock is a Kettering resident who played college football with Schembechler at Miami University and later coached with him at Bowling Green State University and Ohio State.

He is one of the few individuals not directly associated with the Michigan athletic program who is a pall bearer for Schembechler today in private funeral services in Ann Arbor, Mich. A public memorial service will take place at 1 p.m. Tuesday at Michigan Stadium.

Schembechler, who coached at Michigan for 27 years, passed away Friday morning from heart failure. He was preparing to tape a weekly television show about Michigan football.

He and his wife, Kathy, were supposed to be weekend guests of Gunlock and his wife, Sandy, in their Kettering home.

"Bo was supposed to tape his television show in Detroit Friday, and then he and Kathy were driving down to stay with us for a few days," Gunlock said Sunday during a public viewing for Schembechler at St. Andrews Episcopal in Ann Arbor. "We were going to do out for dinner Friday at the Pine Club and watch the OSU-Michigan game at our house with friends Saturday. Monday, Bo was going to speak to the Agonis Club. Then he and Kathy were going on over to Columbus to be with their family for Thanksgiving."

Schembechler is survived by his wife and three sons, including Glenn "Shemy" Schembechler, who lives in Columbus.

The 77-year-old Gunlock is retired from the commercial real estate business.

"We were always close," said Gunlock. "Bo would always call when there was something important to talk about. We talked a couple of times last week about the game and about his health. I could tell in his voice he wasn't doing too well."

Kathy Schembechler was running errands Friday morning when her husband collapsed. After she was contacted, some of the first people she contacted were the Gunlocks.

"Kathy called from the hospital, said Bo had collapsed and wasn't doing well," said Sandy Gunlock. "We told her we'd be there as fast as we could. She called back an hour later and said Bo had died."

"That drive to Ann Arbor may have been the toughest I've ever made with so many things going through my mind about Bo," said Gunlock.

The Gunlocks were at the Schembechler family home Saturday as they watched No. 1 OSU defeat No. 2 Michigan, 42-39.

"It was tough at times, especially when they did the tribune to Bo on television," said Gunlock. "But it was comforting for the family to see how much Bo had meant to so many people all over the world."

Contact this writer at (937) 225-2251 or dlong@DaytonDailyNews.com.