There was a lot of action on the Gloucester City High School football field Saturday morning, Aug. 9, with two seven-on-seven flag football games being played simultaneously during the fifth annual Austin Dobleman Scholarship Football Tournament.
The games were quick and fast, as the players lined up, ran routes and scored touchdowns under the watchful eye of professional referees – including Gloucester City resident Steve Cowgill.
Around the outside of the field craft vendors set up booths and friends and family sold commemorative T-shirts.
“Austin was a close friend from childhood,” said Chelsea Clair and Abby Moran, who helped organize the event as well the Beef and Beer later that evening at the Pine Grove Fire Association Hall that raise funds for the Austin Dobleman Scholarship Fund – which provides two college scholarships to two Gloucester City High School seniors every year.
“This is the only thing that gets me out of the house,” said Austin’s father George Dobleman.
His mother, Lisa Dobleman, said the annual event is very important and that she appreciates everyone’s efforts in remembering the son, who had died in a tragic motor vehicle accident on Sept. 8, 2020.
Volunteers lending a helping hand included Clair, Moran, Sam Steffen, Jessica Bury, John Herman and Austin’s brothers, Owen Dobleman and Dalton Dobleman.
A young man with a great future, Austin’s life was taken too quickly at the tender age of 25. He was a star quarterback for the Gloucester City High School football team, and graduated with the GHS Class of 2014.
He then attended Kings College in Wilkes Barre, PA, earning degrees in criminal justice, sociology and psychology.
Clair said that he was killed on the Friday before he was supposed to report the next Monday to his new job with the Capitol Police in Washington, D.C., where he planned to start his dream of becoming a police officer.
Austin was survived by his girlfriend Kristina Kocher, his parents and his brothers, and was the cherished grandson of Thomas and Veronica Virden. He was the beloved nephew of Tom Virden Jr., Veronica Hemphill and Sharon Lail.
Despite his tragic death, Austin’s legacy as an athlete and an excellent student will live on year after year through the scholarship fund in his name, thanks to the efforts of his friends and family.
