Robert A. SAVAGE

SAVAGE, CHASE, SCHEIDLER, SIMON

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 7/28/2008 at 17:20:26

[Bob Savage, who was inducted into the Iowa Football Coaches Hall of Fame in 1969, began his coaching career at Eagle Grove Junior College in 1947. He switched to Eagle Grove High School in 1948. Three years later, Savage was persuaded by his wife, Ruth, a graduate of North, to take the football and baseball positions at East High.]

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Des Moines Register, IA
July 6, 2008

Bob Savage, 86, of Des Moines, died Wednesday at Iowa Lutheran Hospital. Funeral services with military honors will be held 11 a.m. Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at the Dale & Lois Bright Community Center at East High School, East 14th and Walker Street. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service, cremation to follow.

Bob was born September 3, 1921 in Detroit, Michigan. He grew up in Big Spring, Texas and played college football and baseball for Texas Christian University. Bob met Ruth Chase while in the Navy during WWII and married her on March 6, 1945. Bob graduated from Northern Colorado in 1947. He had a true passion for sports, both as a participant and as a coach. He touched countless lives as a football, baseball, and softball coach at East High over an exceptionally long career. He was an outstanding three-sport athlete in high school and college, played fast pitch softball for a number of years in Des Moines, and continued to play golf with his customary passion up to recent years. Bob was a member of the Union Park United Methodist Church. He related well to others, and was a people person.

Bob is survived by his wife of 63 years, Ruth; his children, Bobbye (Sam) Scheidler of Clive and Lynda Simon of Des Moines; five grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his daughter Bonnye Savage, in March of 2008, his parents, and three brothers.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be directed to the East High Athletic Department or the American Diabetes Association. Hamilton's Funeral Home, 605 Lyon Street is handling Bob's arrangements.

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Savage and East had a glorious ride
By JOHN NAUGHTON, DAN McCOOL and LISA COLONNO • July 3, 2008
Des Moines Register, copyright

Bob Savage, who coached football, baseball and softball teams to success during a five-decade career at Des Moines East High School, died Wednesday.

Savage, 86, died at Iowa Lutheran Hospital at 1 p.m., hospital officials said.

Savage led East to 477 victories in softball, 198 in baseball and 102 in football.

He never won a state championship as a head coach - Savage was an assistant when East won a softball title in 2006 - but Savage was inducted into the National High School Athletic Coaches Association's Hall of Fame in 2001, the Iowa Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1969 and was the Des Moines Sunday Register coach of the year for the 1999-00 school year.

East athletic director Ric Powell, a former baseball coach there, considered Savage a special member of the East family.

"He was one of my mentors and a great friend," Powell said. "He's one of the biggest losses we've ever experienced because he's been a part of East High athletics since (1951). He's probably the most respected coach that we've ever had."

Savage, a longtime employee of the Des Moines Park and Recreation Department, leaves a softball legacy that includes his name on an east-side softball complex.

When Savage stepped down as softball coach in 2000 at age 78, he was the elder statesman among head coaches in the state. East softball coach Bob Ligouri said the Scarlets continued to list Savage as their pitching coach.

Kathleen Robinson, 25, was a junior in Savage's last season as head coach.

"He was East softball. He built the program into what it is today," Robinson said.

The Scarlets were No. 1 at the end of the 2000 season, but were upset by Ames in a district semifinal.

"We did feel a lot of pressure to get to state for him, and we were very upset that we couldn't get there."

Des Moines disc jockey Dic Youngs, who played football at East under Savage, called his coach's passing a great loss.

"The east side is in great mourning," Youngs said. "He was a terrific coach and even a terrific friend. He had an impact on thousands of his ballplayers - baseball, football and softball."

George Davis, director of umpires for the Central Iowa Metropolitan League, knew Savage for 35 years.

Savage served as freshman coach for three seasons when Davis was girls' basketball coach at East, beginning in 1993. Davis said Savage owned a special knack for success in softball.

"I never knew a person that had more knowledge in the game of softball than Bob Savage," Davis said. "Especially in the area of pitching ... he kept East High in pitchers for many, many years. He'd see them throw a ball when they were young kids, by young I mean 6, 7, 8 years old, and then he'd work with them. He's the one that really kept East in the ballgame for several years."

Savage was born Sept. 3, 1921, in Big Spring, Texas. He played football and baseball at Texas Christian University.

He played professional baseball for one season, in 1943, then served in the U.S. Navy in World War II, alongside baseball Hall of Famers Pee Wee Reese and Johnny Mize.

"It was intensity and always try to be on top," Savage said in a January 2000 article in The Des Moines Register. "That's what they gave me. Those type of people didn't slouch on anything."

Savage married Ruth Chase on March 6, 1945, and graduated from Northern Colorado in 1947.

He coached at Eagle Grove for three years before coming to East, where he taught until 1983.

Savage's death came one day after the Scarlets clinched at least a share of their fourth consecutive CIML Metro Conference softball championship.

On Wednesday night, Ligouri won his 500th career game.

"To me, Bob Savage is a legend," Ligouri said Wednesday.

"People have a tendency to focus on a win-loss record and championships and things like that when they coach, and the thing that stands out with me is his love of his sports that he coached, his love of athletics, his competitiveness.

"... We've had great success in softball at East, and I was telling people the reason for that is because of the work that Bob Savage did in this community for decades. Softball is the game on the east side, and that's because of Bob Savage. And every time a mother hands the ball off to her young daughter, that's because of Bob Savage and the love of the game that he instilled in generations."

Funeral arrangements are pending.