By Greg Gielczyk
LocalSportsJournal.com

PENTWATER–A hitch in the U.S. Marine Corps served to prepare Pete Dumonte, one of six children his mother raised on her own, for what challenges he’d face later in life.

Like so many others, Dumonte enlisted in the Marines on the delayed program, got married that summer and soon was on his way to boot camp in San Diego.

“I was promoted to a corporal and then a sergeant,” said Dumonte, 65, who received his discharge in September of 1980. “I was stationed in Hawaii for three years. I was very fortunate; I was a 30-43 supply administration. Being in the administration office I got to be pretty good friends with our CO (commanding officer). He ended up having me become his company driver, and he was a big basketball fan. I played basketball for our base team for a couple years.”

The discipline and structure of the Marine Corps, as well as the responsibilities that come with being a husband and father, (the couple would have their second child while he was in the service) sculpted his character.

Pete Dumonte

He says that he became a better man and a better person as a result of his service.

Dumonte graduated from Pentwater High School in 1976 after transferring from Hart. He ran track before focusing solely on basketball his final 2 years.

While at Hart, he was All-West Michigan Conference in basketball, and then moved over to Pentwater where he scored 1,000 points in the two years he played varsity hoops for the Falcons.

He was All-West Michigan D League as well as All-District his senior year, when the Falcons won the league title, but fell in the districts.

Dumonte returned to Pentwater after getting out of the Marine Corps, becoming junior varsity basketball coach for Jim Wallace in the early 1980s.

Wallace convinced Dumonte to attend college although he had two children. He found a small school for him in Ohio where he excelled, setting several records including scoring more than 2,400 points in 4 years.

“It was very rewarding … it was a smaller school,” Dumonte said. “I thank my wife for supporting me and working while I went to college, along with being a mother of two. After I graduated from college in 1984, I got a job very quickly at a high school in Carey, Ohio. I was a head coach there for about 10 years.”

Dumonte was the first basketball coach to win 100 games at the school, averaging 16 and 17 wins a season after his first two years on the bench.

But he felt it was time to step down as a varsity coach and said he has no desire to be a head coach again.

He completed his seventh year as the Pentwater boys junior varsity coach.

“I just enjoy being that support system, just coaching and teaching,” Dumonte added.

Dumonte and his wife of 47 years, Jolyn, who graduated from Pentwater in 1975, have two boys, Ryan and Troy. Ryan resides in Idaho while Troy lives in Ohio.