Arnzen’s career touched hundreds of youth

Tri-County Man of the Year

By Jim Metcalfe, The Delphos Herald
Published:  Wednesday, January 2, 2008 (1 year ago)
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Bob ArnzenDELPHOS — Teacher.
Coach.
Friend of youth.
Active in the community.
A lot of things go into what makes a person the Tri-County Man of the Year.
Those things are all ingredients in the life of one Robert A. Arnzen and it is for those reasons that he has been named The Delphos Herald’s Tri-County Man of the Year.
“I’m not sure what I’ve done to deserve this. I haven’t been as involved with the kids and the community as I have been in years past; I’m just getting old,” Arnzen began.
His entry into the life of the Delphos community began in September 1950 when he was hired as a teacher and boys basketball coach at St. John’s High School after graduation from the education department at the University of Dayton.
“I had no intention of being a coach when I was going to college. I did want to become a teacher based on being in education; in those days, coaching was part of the territory,” he said. “I played my freshman year at UD, hurt my back and became a manager. In those days, UD Arena wasn’t around, so we had to practice off-campus. I rode with Tom Blackburn, the head coach, every day and we became friends. He helped get me the job at St. John’s.”
The Jays had come off a 1949 Class B state title and a 1950 regional runner-up finish, losing to eventual champ Miller City, so Arnzen didn’t have to re-invent the wheel.
“It was a well-established program then. I really had no plan of what to do, so I instituted what Coach Blackburn had run at UD. There were a lot of man-to-man principles and throughout my 43 years, I didn’t vary much from it; there were tweaks here and there but it basically stayed the same,” he acknowledged. “My whole idea was to have the kids play hard every night and to have a lot of fun on the court. It was about putting in the extra time to get the most out of each player’s ability. I was fortunate that Delphos produced a lot of good players that were willing to do just that and liked to play that way, especially as we put in more defensive pressure and transition offense.
“I got the most fun out of watching players progress from freshmen to seniors. That always was one of the best parts of coaching and made you want to keep doing it.”
That philosophy produced a 676-292 mark in 43 seasons — a state title in 1983, runners-up in 1973 and 1954 and semifinalists in 1982 and 1990 —  ending after the 1992-93 campaign. It also produced induction into the Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame and as an inaugural member of the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame. Other major honors include: the Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame, the Paul Walker Award, Ohio Coach of the Year (twice), Ohio Pro/Am Award for Distinguished Lifetime Achievement in Sports, the University of Dayton Sports Achievement Award and National Catholic Coach of the Year award. He also had the Bob Arnzen Longevity Award named in his honor.
“There were a lot of highlights, too many to whittle down to a favorite. Of course, there were the games with LCC,” he continued. “There were also the games against teams from the big cities.
“When I first began coaching, there were three classes: A, B and C. Then they changed them to numbers: I, II and III. Toward the end of my coaching, they made it four divisions.”
Throughout his career, he also helped the growth of basketball in Ohio, organizing the District 8 Basketball Coaches Association in 1966, serving as its first president until 1968; district director for the OHSBCA at the same time and elected as its assistant secretary/treasurer. He served on the Basketball Rules Advisory Committee from 1987-94 and was a long-time member of the National Federal Interscholastic Coaches Association.
“Every principal I have worked with: starting with Fr. E.C. Herr and on through to Fr. Thomas Kuhn, Fr. Yeager, Fr. William Parker and George Adams; were so supportive of me. They made it easy for me,” he acknowledged. “I have a saying that I believe applies to the business world: the boss isn’t always right but he’s still the boss. I think that’s why I enjoyed my team in coaching; I never had the war stories I heard from other coaches.
“The game did change over the years. There was so much more time that you needed to put into the game.”
He didn’t leave the game completely, either, after retirement; he became a color commentator for Fox-TV’s local basketball tape-delay broadcasts.
“That was nice; I didn’t abruptly leave the game. Unfortunately, my voice started changing a few years back; I didn’t like that voice that was coming out of my mouth, so I retired about three years ago,” he said.
He taught physical education and general math his entire career at St. John’s, plus taught driver’s ed for 2/3 of the time. He also coached the first two years of the St. John’s football program, starting in 1955.
Shortly after he arrived, the son of the late Harry and Mary Arnzen went to work for the Delphos Parks Department.
“That was almost part of the job, too. I ran the swimming pool — which was going well even then — for four years under then-Parks Director Jack Koch; he retired and I took over,” he continued. “At that time, we had a morning baseball league and a fast-pitch men’s softball league a couple of evenings a week. Within a couple of years, slow-pitch softball caught on and became really big; we had a men’s and women’s league on separate nights and that’s when they started the Fourth of July Tournament. We’d get 30-40 teams and that fit right in with what the Jaycees were doing at Stadium Park. You’d get a lot of people out there because of the tournaments.
“At the same time, we started the Little League for 8- and 9-year-olds. Guys like Bill Van Pelt, Dick Wulfhorst and Ed Wiecher were really important in that. About eight years later, we included kids in kindergarten and first grade.
“The Knothole League — what we’d term City and Pony — was big where I came from, in the Cincinnati area, and big here: you had Class C, for boys aged 9-12; B, up to 14; and A, up to 16. That was about all the organized opportunities you had before high school.”
Actually, his first love was bowling.
“My dad owned an alley and I bowled from the age of 6. I loved it,” he continued. “I was too small for football but I played organized baseball and basketball. When I went to St. Xavier in Cincinnati for high school, a school known for state championships, I played baseball and freshmen basketball.
“We played an awful lot of sports in the neighborhood — we had groups of kids, we had a nice park right up the street and we’d get groups from other neighborhoods. Or we’d play in the streets or the alleys. We played a game called Strike Out that involved a batter and a pitcher and a rubber ball; you’d throw as hard as you could. We had a perfect strike zone between our garage door and a fence.”
Arnzen and his wife of 53 years, the former Alice Beining of Ottoville, have five children: Elaine, Maria, Jim (who had the coaching bug, too), Jeanne and Ted. They also have nine grandchildren.
Only one of Bob’s siblings — Margaret of Covington, Ky., his hometown — survives. Two elder brothers: Howard and Bill; are deceased.
“During my career, between basketball, the park and the children, I didn’t have a lot of time to develop hobbies. I guess I had the perfect jobs: my jobs were my hobbies,” he added. “I have been very fortunate in my life; I have no regrets. I’ve been around a lot of good people all my life.
“This is a great honor but it’s a reflection of those I’ve had in my life.”

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