BOB DOSTAL
Class of 1963
Inducted in 2013 |
Bob was inducted into the SHSAA Packer Sports Greats in 2013.
Bob Dostal earned two letters in baseball and two in football. He won the Omaha World-Herald’s Star of the Week Award on 9-30-52. He played Legion ball on the Metz team in 1952 and was selected All-City as a pitcher. Bob received Omaha World-Herald’s Sportsmen’s Corner honors. In 1953 SHS won the baseball City title, and Bob was named to Omaha’s All-Star team as pitcher along with Bob Gibson of Tech High School. South beat Tech 8-2 in that All-Star game handing Tech their first loss. In the 1953 spring game, Benson beat South 3-2, but Coach Collin said that Dostal’s hit in the seventh inning was the longest he had ever seen at Brown Park. The ball cleared the parked cars at the back of the left field, hit a car on “U” Street and bounced back onto the playing field holding Dostal to a triple. Bob was honored by the Kiwanis Club of Omaha. When he attended Buena Vista College in 1955 his team won the Iowa State Conference championship. His pitching record was 6-0. At the NAIA tournament in June 1959, Bob suffered the first loss of his career to Sam Houston 4-1. After that season he was offered a chance to play pro ball with the Dodgers, but he felt his arm would never be the same so he turned down the offer. He attended Omaha University (now UNO) in 1959 and 1960 and that team won the NAIA league championship. He finished nationals with an extremely sore right elbow, which never healed properly. In 1960 spring baseball at OU, Bob played second base the majority of the time while trying to recover from his sore elbow. He played slow- and fast-pitch on Darby’s softball team, and he bowled on the Darby’s team for 30 years. He coached youth baseball starting with his nephews and grand-nephews, and was involved in Gross High School’s little league’s baseball program. After a stint as a commercial painter, he worked at the 55th Wing of the US Air Force at Offutt Air Base for 17 years. Bob received awards for outstanding service and devotion such as the National Emergency Airborne Command Post B award and Devoted Service Award from the US Air Force General Power Commander 55th Wing. He retired in December 2000 and passed away in September 2012. |