Running the Race... Beating the Odds

I’m a proud Modesto native, born in 1931 and raised on Morris Avenue.  I road my bicycle each day to attend John Muir Elementary, Roosevelt Junior High and Modesto High Schools.  At Modesto High I played basketball and competed in track and field.  I was an average student and had no support from home for academic pursuits.  My dad graduated from high school and my mom never attended high school.  Neither understood the importance of higher education.  Despite the lack of support I was voted an outstanding senior in my class at Modesto High.

One day in 1948, during a Modesto High track meet in my senior year, MJC Track Coach Stan Pavko dropped by.  He asked me if I was interested in running track at MJC the following year.  I was thrilled to be asked, especially by Mr. Pavko, a legend in our region.  In the spring of 1949, I competed in track and field at MJC, medaling in numerous events at several of our meets, helping our team to win the conference and Northern California titles.  We repeated that feat in 1950.  The following year, 1951, I served as an assistant to Coach Pavko and completed my studies at MJC, walking in the graduation ceremony at the stadium.

If not for Stan Pavko, I know that I would never have attended college.  He changed my life.  I was also influenced by Dr. Ken Rowland in business and Charlie Black in economics, who led me on a path to study real estate and to develop a career in insurance.  I completed my studies at San Jose State University in business administration while running track there.  Following my graduation I entered the Aviation Cadet School and served two years with stints in Greenville, South Carolina and France.  During my military service I kept running track, winning a gold medal for my base.  I also entered skeet shooting competitions and went to the championship in Germany where I placed second.

After my time in the military I came back to Modesto in 1955 and applied for work with Giddings Brothers Insurance.  The first person I met at the front counter was my future wife, Lucille!  I got the job too!  Lucille and I married two years later and we raised three great children who all attended MJC and graduated from universities.

A long and wonderful career in insurance always kept me active in civic affairs.  I proudly served as an organizer of the Modesto and California Relays for 58 years.  I was voted Young Man of Modesto in 1966, Citizen of the Year in Oakdale in 1998 and I’ve had perfect attendance at my Rotary Clubs for the past 45 years.   I’m so proud of being inducted into the MJC Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012.  And today, I still give my time to the Memorial Hospital cardiac unit where I’ve counseled hundreds of heart patients who have had open heart surgery (because I’ve survived three of them myself!)

Stan Pavko and I were lifelong friends.  I was proud to share with his widow shortly after Stan passed that he had changed my life.  I often wonder how my life would have turned out if not for Stan Pavko and MJC.  I’m a grateful alumnus.

- Bob Stewart, Class of 1951