Published: November 18, 2008 12:05 pm         

At Random: Retired coach still practices his daily routines

When Bob Chaloupecky retired from North Central Texas College in 2003, many people thought he would slow down and relax, but not the people that knew him best.

When Chaloupecky was coaching tennis at NCTC for 32 years, he would always arrive early and work out in the gym with his friends before teaching his classes and conducting practice. Well the classes and practice may be gone, but the workout is not.

“I’m a routine person,” he said. “They say when you retire you can change your routine every day, but I love being a routine person.”

On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, his routine consists of getting up early and having a good breakfast, drinking three cups of coffee, jogging around his neighborhood and then he heads off to Bosco gym where he works out for an hour and then socializes. Tuesdays and Thursdays, he either jogs or rides his bike and then does yard work.

Chaloupecky, a St. Louis, Mo., native, was one of the most successful tennis coaches in NJCAA history. Over his 32-year career, his women’s teams made 20 appearances in the National JUCO Championship Tournament and never placed lower than seventh in the nation while producing 17 individual NJCAA National Champions. His men’s teams made five National Tournament appearances and won three individual championships before the program was dropped. He had 71 NJCAA Women All-Americans, 38 ITA Women All-Americans and six NJCAA Men All-Americans.

He produced an overall dual match record of 949-298-15 and was named NJCAA Junior College Wilson/ITA Coach of the Year in 1997 and was inducted into the NJCAA Women’s Tennis Hall of Fame in 1993 and the NJCAA Men’s Tennis Hall of Fame in 1997.

Now, instead of worrying about hauling his team to another match or tournament, he gets to travel to places that he enjoys.

His brother still lives in Missouri so he visits him there, although he jokes that they can only stand to be around each other for about a week. He has gone to Las Vegas, although he admits he is not a big gambler. He also gets a chance to travel and see friends, including former Register sports editor Marty Mishow, who has been working in Southeast Missouri for around 22 years..

“I was always friendly with all the sports writers but I got to really know him because he was from my hometown of St. Louis,” Chaloupecky said.

He also visits former NCTC (or Cooke County College as it was called then) basketball coach Bill Broom, who now lives in Illinois.

But despite having family and friends in other parts of the country, Chaloupecky has continued to reside in Gainesville.

“When I went to college, I fell in love with the small town,” he said. “I grew up in the big city and I loved it, but I wouldn’t want to live in it anymore. I’m glad I grew up there and I miss all the big time sports like the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team, but I just like the small town. You can get around easier with no traffic and you just know everybody. It’s like a big neighborhood.”

Another thing that keeps him around is his affection for North Central Texas College, where a plaque highlighting his accomplishments is placed next to the sidewalk leading up to four courts that are named for him.

“I’ll always love the college. When I first retired, I didn’t come out much on purpose because I wanted to make sure I could adjust which I did, but you never know when you retire. There was also a lot of turmoil at that time with the administration and I didn’t want to get in between anything,” he said. “But I love being retired. I loved my job probably 97 percent of the time. It was a great job. I had great players and it was a great atmosphere with outstanding faculty and staff and administration. I always said that it beat working. I was happy every day to go to work. How many people get to go to work and do their hobbies?”

Despite having more free time to do the things he wants to do, the former coach says there are things he still misses about being in charge of the Lady Lion program.

“I miss the matches a little bit and the kids. The thing I miss most are the two features of coaching,” he said. “One is when you give someone a scholarship. It’s a great feeling, especially when they could not go to college without a scholarship. It was always a thrill for me to give them a scholarship and then seeing them make it. Number two is having players thank you and keep in touch with you. The sad note is I have had four or five players who have passed away.”

Chaloupecky says he will always stay in Gainesville “unless my house blows away.” He does have plans to go in with his brother and get a condo in Tucson, Ariz.

“I fell in love with Tucson because we went to Nationals there a few times. It has the warm, dry weather and it’s home to the University of Arizona. It’s not a small city but it’s not a big city. I just fell in love with it. There are so many things to do there.”

But whether he is in Gainesville or Missouri or Tucson, Chaloupecky says he plans to continue to live his life by the words of former North Carolina State University basketball coach Jim Valvano, who died of cancer but encouraged people all the way up until his death.

“He always said there are three things you need to do every day,” Chaloupecky said. “Laugh every day. I have a good time and laugh every day. Think every day and cry every day. I kind of live that. If you can laugh every day and kind of use your brain a little bit and look on the sad side sometimes, then you’ve lived a good life. Life is short. Whether you live to be 30 or 99, life is short. I don’t know where it went.”