Former Baseball Coach Bob Zuber Passes Away
7/16/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
MALIBU, Calif. -- Former Pepperdine baseball coach Bob Zuber passed away last Thursday, July 10, at his home in Encino, Calif. He was 79.
Zuber was the head coach of the Waves for two seasons. His 1977 squad went 23-27-2 overall, and his 1978 team improved to 36-18-2 overall and 20-8 with a second-place finish in the Southern California Baseball Association.
Robert Howard Zuber was born in Stockton, Calif., on Nov. 3, 1928, but he lived his entire life in Los Angeles. He played baseball at Washington High School and in 1946 played in the Hearst All-Star Game at the Polo Grounds in New York.
He went on to play baseball at USC. In the 1948 NCAA championship game against Yale, Zuber made the first out of a game-ending triple play that clinched the first national championship for the Trojans. He signed with the Chicago Cubs organization and was assigned to the L.A. Angels of the Pacific Coast League.
Zuber dedicated the better part of his professional life to the sport he loved, baseball. He began his coaching career at Birmingham High School in Van Nuys but spent most of his career at Los Angeles City College. Following LACC, Zuber was the pitching coach for USC and Loyola before coming to Pepperdine. He culminated his baseball career in 2006 working with the Eagle Rock High School baseball team alongside his son, head coach Rick Zuber (who played at Pepperdine in 1977).
He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Tollis; sons Bob (Patty), Rick (Christine) and Ron (Cathy) and seven grandchildren.
Memorial services will be held Saturday (July 19) at 2 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church of Encino.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to the Chordoma Foundation (PO Box 4562, Greensboro, NC, 27404-4562) or to the First Presbyterian Church of Encino's Youth Ministries.
