| Overall UK Wins: 1 | Overall UK Losses: 0 | Win % 100 |
Date of Birth: March 23, 1911
Date of Death: February 3, 2001
Hometown: Dayton, OH
Alma Mater: Ohio State [1935]
For a generalized listing of officials, please consult this page.
| Date | Matchup | W/L | Score | UK Fouls | Opp Fouls | UK FTA | Opp FTA | UK DQ | Opp DQ | Technicals | Officiating Crew |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/12/1948 | Kentucky at Ohio | W | 79 - 57 | 42 | 27 | 32 | 42 | 0 | 1 | - | Bobby Colburn (Ohio State) and Dale Rose (Capital) |
Obituary - Dayton (OH) Daily News (February 8, 2001)
Colburn was one of the best athletes in Dayton
Four-Sport Star at Stivers Died Saturday
Bobby Colburn, the last survivor of the only Ohio team ever to win three successive state high school basketball championships, was buried Tuesday in Kettering's Miami Valley Memorial Gardens.
The Stivers Tigers he played for went 29-1, 29-1 and 27-0 in 1928-29-30, the two losses coming in a national tournament in Chicago.
Colburn, who died Saturday at age 89 in a northeastern Ohio nursing home, was one of the best all-around athletes ever to play in Dayton, being a four-sport performer at Stivers.
His name was in the news here for more than a half-century as a performer, coach and official, and later as an administrator when he became a high school principal.
Six players of the 1929 team went on to play for collegiate championship teams. Bill Hosket Sr., Herb Brown and Colburn played on a Big Ten championship team at Ohio State. Sam Andrews and Bob Albright led Otterbein to an Ohio Conference title and Larry McAfee did the same for Wittenberg.
In an interview for the book Sports in Dayton, Colburn talked about the Tigers taking a Pennsylvania Railroad train to Columbus for the 1928 tournament with only eight players.
"We stayed in the Deshler-Wallick, the best hotel in town at Broad and High and dressed in our rooms," Colburn said. "We put on our sweat clothes stuff a couple of towels in a bag and went out to the State Fairgrounds for the games in two cabs."
The "Orange Crush" as their fans called them, didn't have a close call in beating Akron Garfield and Columbus Central en route to the title game against Dover. Stivers was a 36-22 winner with Hosket leading with 14 points while Colburn had 11.
At that time, low scores were routine. After each field goal, play was resumed with a center jump at midcourt. The rule giving the team that gave up the score an out-of-bounds possession didn't come until the 1937-38 season.
After graduating from OSU in 1935, Colburn turned pro and played with the Indianapolis Kautskys, then in the long-forgotten National Basketball League.
Colburn then started a coaching career that included both basketball and football. He got his masters in education from Xavier and went into administration. At one time, he was both basketball coach and principal at Carlisle. He coached football at Wilbur Wright and West Carrollton.
Keeping active, he wore the striped shirt in both football and basketball, working his last football game at age 73.
In baseball, he is a member of the Dayton Amateur Commission Hall of Fame. He also took up tennis and won his share of age group tourneys.
He married Sara Ankney in 1934, giving him a link to another Dayton sports family, Sara's brother, Ben, coached Northridge to a state basketball title in 1945 and later was on the football staff at Miami. Ben's son, Howard (Moe) Ankney, is a former head coach at Bowling Green and defensive coordinator at Missouri. Pete Ankney, former head football coach at the University of Dayton, is a nephew.
Sara died in 1994 and had the satisfaction with Bob of seeing both sons enjoy successful athletic careers. Bob Jr. was a football star at Fairmount and Bowling Green, where he is in the Hall of Fame. He retired last season as a Big Ten football official. Jim Colburn, who resides in Atlanta, starred in high school here.
