Bob Winters was a two sport star for Stivers in the mid 1930’s. He was just a natural born athlete that was good at every sport he tried. His 3 best sports were basketball, golf, and baseball, excelling in them all.
Winters teamed with Bert Gaines and Larry Knorr in the 1935 basketball season. He was always one of the leading scorers in a very successful season. Stivers beat the 1934 state champs, Roosevelt Teddies, in the district semi-finals 36 to 30. Then beat Cincinnati Woodward 39 to 20 for the Southwestern Ohio Class A championship. Unfortunately they lost in the 1st round of the state finals to Coshocton 23 to 17. In the 1935-36 basketball season, without Gaines and Knorr, the team wasn’t nearly as strong. But Winters was the leading scorer and named to the All-City 2nd team.
For the Stivers golf team, Bob was their #1 player both his Junior and Senior years. He regularly shot in the 70’s. In the 1935 city high school tourney, Bob shot the lowest score in match play, a 74 on the difficult par 71 course at Community G. C. He was still playing in city competition in 1946. At Walnut Grove C. C., he had the 2nd lowest score with a 73 in the Bankers Handicap.
Bob’s best sport was baseball. Why he never played for Stivers is unclear. !n 1935 he was nominated for the Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame after hitting.694 for the Dayton Boys Club team. The next year, playing for Reynolds & Reynolds in Class A, he led the team in hitting with a.563 B. A., and was named a league All-Star. Bob played for Delco in 1937 and part of the ‘38 season before signing to play for Fremont, a Cincinnati Reds minor league club and hit.321. The Reds promoted him to their Columbia, S. C. franchise and over 3 seasons had a batting average of.315, but never made it to the majors. Bob played for several semi-pro baseball teams after that. He played for Delco in 1942, the Wright Field Kittyhawks while in the service in 1944. and the National Champ Fort Wayne General Electrics in 1947 and ‘48.
Robert L. Winters Sr. and his wife of 49 years, Mariruth George Winters, had one son, Robert L. Winters Jr. Bob passed away July 11, 1990 at the age of 72 and is buried in Woodland Cemetery in Dayton.