Bob Perkins

Bob Perkins

Booster – Class of ‘45

Bob Perkins has been around much longer than Southwest High School. Long enough, in fact, to have become firmly established as a Southwest Booster by the time he was graduated in January of 1945. Bob’s 1945 classmates voted him “busiest” and “done most for school”.

In his student days at SWHS, Bob earned nine varsity letters as Manager of SW football, basketball, hockey, and baseball teams from 1942 until January, 1945. Bob was also Sports Editor of the Southwest Arrow.

As a ninth grader, Perkins led a small group of kids which appeared before the Southwest Community council. Their mission was to plead that the skating rink and warming house be kept open at Pershing Field, despite Park Board budget woes. The money was found; the rink stayed open.

When the city conference cancelled high school hockey before the 1942 season, Bob Perkins organized and managed a team of Southwest players to play hockey in the Park Board system. The team went on to win the mythical city championship. The first-place trophy was on display for years in Don & Marks Café at 50th and Xerxes. Bob organized a team reunion in 1990.

Perkins was certainly a careful manager. As Southwest baseball manager, he lost only one (1) baseball in four years. Following his last game, the coach gave Perk a brand new ball and a pat on the back.

Bob also found time for church basketball. He set up a city-wide league, then organized and managed boys’ basketball at Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd. He went on to be Basketball Director for 40 years. Besides giving legions of kids in the SW area a chance to play basketball, Bob’s teams accumulated 200 trophies for Good Shepherd Lutheran.

Since that time, Bob has been a tireless historian of all things having to do with sports at Southwest. In recent years, Bob has written newsletters and sports updates for old friends and teammates. Following retirement, Bob organized the “First Friday Club” – a loosely organized group of former Southwest athletes of the forties who lunched together for years. Alas, there are now too few remaining members to call a quorum. If there were, Bob would call them to order! Bob Perkins - still busy; still getting things done for Southwest high school.

Bob Perkins