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Maximum Play

By Jadell Forman 90

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Click Photo to Enlarge Bob Zupcic (right, with Athletics Director Mike Carter) is now a car salesman in North Carolina. He and wife Becky have four children: Tyler, Drake, Olivia, and Christian. Tyler and Drake like to play baseball.

It's the 7th game of the World Series--the game when a baseball player's competitive juices are racing through his body. Little Robert Zupcic has been in this challenging place several times before...in his backyard, in his imagination. Like every other World Series decision-maker game he has played, the six-year-old baseball wannabe and his older brother win the World Series. "Every time." Like the vast majority of kids, Bob never made it to the World Series, but he did earn the rare-but-coveted spot in the pros after a successful career at ORU.

In the early 1980s, Bob heard about the ORU baseball games, because his brother had moved to Tulsa and occasionally attended. "That was back when Mike Moore was a #1 draft pick," Zupcic recalls, and back when Zupcic started to get really excited about ORU's program, despite the fact that other colleges were getting really excited about Zupcic's football abilities.

"I enjoyed football. But I loved baseball." That's partly why he turned down football scholarships at Pittsburg State and Penn State. "I wanted to go to a Christian school with a good baseball program. So, my dad called the coach, and after a few phone calls everything worked out great."

Things continued to go great for Bob at ORU. He batted .335 in three seasons, with 26 homeruns and 135 RBIs in 197 career games. After graduating in 1987 with a business degree, Bob married his college sweetheart, Becky, and began a professional career as a right fielder with the Boston Red Sox. He finished his career with the Chicago White Sox in 1994. Throughout his career, Bob played his best...every time.

"Whether in life or athletics, God requires that we maximize our abilities," he says. "I teach my children to use their abilities to glorify God." Before they play, he reminds them that it doesn't matter how many people are in the stands, or if a scout is watching, but that God is watching. "We're accountable to God."