UWEC Athletics Hall of Fame
Bob Tomashek participated in all UWEC sports including football, basketball, hockey, track, swimming and boxing. Tomashek's success in athletics was outstanding because of the fact that he was blinded in one eye in an accident at the age of nine. As a Blugold, he lettered three years in football and four years in basketball. He was All-Conference and co-captain one year in football. As a prep at St. Patrick's in Eau Claire, he was a world's junior birling champion and traveled during the summers as a member of the Wilbur Marx World Champion Troupe. Tomashek did post-graduate work at Columbia University in New York and Stanford University in California. From 1942 to 1946, he was in the Air Force, most of the time spent as a Physical Training Instructor. During this time, he played professional football with the San Francisco Packers, pitched softball for the Fourth Air Force and played basketball for the Air Force Traveling Team. He was Athletic Director, Coach and Teacher at Spring Valley (1938-1941), St. Patrick's in Eau Claire (1941-42) and Rice Lake (1942). He was a Coach and Teacher at Red Wing, Minnesota (1946-47) and Sequoia Union High School in Redwood City, California (1947-48). He taught at Santa Clara University (1948-50) and was a Counselor and Teacher at James Lick High School in San Jose, California (1950-60). He was Vice-Principal of Elvira Castro Junior High School in San Jose when he died suddenly of a heart attack in 1965. He served as President of the Santa Clara County Teachers Association, the Santa Clara County Coordinating Council, the East Side Union High School District Faculty Club and the Peninsula Coaches and Officials Association.
