Abe Pretekin was not only a first team All-City and All-Area basketball player, but also an outstanding tennis player who teamed up with Stanley VanGuard to make it to the State double tennis finals in 1932.
Abe was also the second leading scorer in the city basketball league his senior year behind Stivers’ Hall of Famer, Augie George. That team won the city championship and fell one game short of making it to the state tournament. Abe’s 1932 basketball team won the city championship and lost in the state tournament.
After attending Stivers where he was a National Honor Society student, Abe enrolled at Ohio State University where he earned his optometry degree. He then attended midshipmen school at Northwestern Univerisity. He was commissioned an Ensign in the Naval Reserve in 1942 being ordered to sea duty as a deck officer in the Aleutian Island off Alaska.
Abe served in WWII as a Lieutenant Senior Grade in the U.S. Navy as a Naval Gunfire Liaison officer to the Marines. Lt. Pretekin was awarded a Bronze Star in the Amphibious Corps. He was a veteran of five Amphibious operations in the Pacific. He went ashore with assault troops and detected gunfire from ships on enemy targets to help save countless soldiers’ lives.
Abe was also names Assistant Naval Gunfire Officer on the general staff of the planning and training section in the Hawaii area.
After his military career Abe was an optometrist in Dayton and Hamilton and was still active and competitive in athletics. He was an avid bowler, rolling a 600 series and was also the 1938 handball champion.
Dr. Pretekin died at the age of 59. He and his wife Harriet had three children, daughter Marcy and sons Louis and Phillilp.