Robert M. Garbark, Class of 1932
Robert M. Garbark was a football and basketball standout at Allegheny from 1928 through 1932.
A 1932 graduate of Allegheny with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and a master’s degree in education (1950), Garbark earned four varsity letters in football and four letters in basketball and served as football team captain for three years.
An All-Tri-State guard three years for the basketball squad and an All-Tri-State fullback for the grid team, Garbark was also named All-American Honorable Mention by Grantland Rice-Colliers, and was the first Alleghenian ever to be named All-American.
In 1931 Garbark was the fifth-leading scorer in the nation among football players, after scoring 15 touchdowns for 90 points in nine contests. Garbark scored 30 touchdowns in his four-year career and two point-after-touchdown kicks for a total of 182 points.
For 45 years Garbark ranked third among Allegheny’s All-Time Career Scoring Leaders in football, behind C. Arthur Dahl, ’26 (204 points) and Albert F. Munhall, ’16 (184 points). In 1976 tailback Tibor Solymosi, ’77 ended a four-year career with 212 points and in 1977 fullback Mark Matlak, ’78, totaled 186 points, placing Garbark fifth on the list currently.
Garbark led the Blue and Gold in scoring in his freshman year with 42 points, in his junior year with 43 points, and in his senior season with 90. The Gators recorded season marks of 4-3-1, 2-4-2, 6-2, and 6-1-2 during Garbark’s playing days.
Garbark played under Melville P. Merritt (Dartmouth ’20) his freshman season and under Harry W. Crum (Princeton, ’24) the last three seasons. In basketball, Garbark played under C.D. Baker, who in 10 years at Allegheny tallied a 98-70 slate.
Upon his graduation from Allegheny, Garbark embarked on a professional baseball career, joining forces as a catcher with the major league teams of Cleveland, Boston and Philadelphia for the American League and of Chicago for the National League.
Garbark sported a lifetime batting average of .269 in the majors, and was a member of the National League championship Chicago Cubs in 1938.
Returning to his alma mater, Garbark became an instructor of physical education in 1941. He coached the basketball teams from the 1943-44 season through the 1945-46 season and from the 1950-51 season through the 1962-63 season, and tallied a 125-181 record in 16 seasons of coaching cagers.
He also served as head football coach for one year, 1946, and the first team Allegheny had after three years off during World War II recorded a 1-6 mark.
Garbark’s forte, as it had been in his own professional playing career, was coaching baseball. Even though Allegheny’s first baseball game was played in 1881, the Blue and Gold did not have a diamond squad after the 1915 season until 1947.
For 32 years Allegheny did not dress an intercollegiate baseball team, but for the next 32 years, Garbark guided the Gators on the diamond. Garbark logged a 282-201-3 record as Gator baseball coach.
When the Presidents’ Athletic Conference came into existence, Garbark promptly became its leader. His record in the PAC stands at 160-47, and Allegheny won 14 of 20 PAC baseball titles under Garbark.
From 1960 through 1964, the Gators won five baseball titles in a row in the PAC. One of the Gator players in that era was Glenn Beckert, ’62, who later went on to a successful career with the Chicago Cubs as an all-star second-baseman.
Beckert will also become one of the charter members of Allegheny’s Athletic Hall of Fame. Other players coached by Garbark who went into the minor leagues include Steve Lanier, ’73, Sean O’Leary, ’76, Pete Maropis, ’76, and Joe Dreistadt, ’79.
From 1971 through 1975 Garbark also coached the varsity cross-country teams. The Gator squads placed second, third, second, third, and fourth, respectively, in the PAC championships under Garbark.
He coached Allegheny’s first All-PAC cross-country runners in Chris Space, ’74 (third in the PAC race in 1971, ’72, and ’73), and Ron Hoover, ’77 (fourth in the PAC race in ’74).
Garbark became an assistant professor of physical education at Allegheny in 1950, as associate professor in 1958, and a professor in 1969. In 1976 Garbark retired and became professor emeritus of physical education. He remained as a part-time coach of the baseball squad through the 1978 season.
Garbark was a junior class president as an undergraduate at Allegheny, and is a member of Alpha Chi Rho Fraternity and Omicron Delta Kappa honorary.
Originally from Edgewood, Pa., Garbark attended Edgewood High School.
