COACH 1980-1989

Bob was a social studies teacher and baseball and soccer coach during his tenure at Apex. He arrived at Apex after a highly successful 12-year career coaching baseball at Meadville High School in Pennsylvania. Bob made his mark at Apex in the classroom and as a coach. He was instrumental in growing the soccer program at Apex and quickly built it into a regional and state power. Though he coached the Cougars to four conference titles at the helm of the soccer program, the first championship in 1984 remains one of Bob’s most vivid memories.

In addition, Bob was the baseball coach at Apex until 1988 and was chiefly responsible for getting lights installed in the Cougar baseball stadium. His career record in the two sports at Apex was 110-60, while his overall head coaching record in high school was 391-146 at three different schools. During his career as a high school coach, he was honored as Coach of the Year a remarkable 15 times.

Bob was also an accomplished teacher who received numerous teaching awards throughout his career. He is nationally recognized as the creator of a course on the lessons of the Vietnam War and has been featured in a number of national publications for his work as an educator. But most importantly, Bob earned the loyalty and respect of the student-athletes that he taught and coached, even having the Apex yearbook dedicated to him by the student body in honor of his service to the school and community. Also, 28 of his former Apex players went on to play soccer or baseball in college. Countless more were positively impacted by the lessons of life that he taught, including Rex Hawley and Phil Howard.