Gil Thorp

Gil Thorp was born in 1958, conjured up by Jack Berrill's whimsical mind and placed on newspaper sports pages around the country during a time when teenagers had problems that were as simple as the times they lived in.

Fresh out of State University when he came to Milford High School, Gil is just a few months shy of celebrating his 40th year as the ubiquitous coach of fictional Milford High School's football, basketball and baseball teams. He is also the athletic director, and his wife, Mimi, is a former basketball and softball coach at Milford. She returned to coaching softball this spring after taking time off to rear their children, Kari, 8, and Jami, 4, full time.

For the moment, Gil is finally starting to look his age. Though the strip has been around for almost 40 years, just how old is Gil?

"The strip is (40), but (Gil) started as an adult in 1958," said Jenkins, who writes Gil Thorp while first, the late Ray Burns, and now, Frank McLaughlin, illustrates it. "He shou...