Track & Field Legend, Phil Bobo Passes at 81

Article presented by Pickaway-Ross CTC Adult Education

Retired teacher and coach, Phil Bobo passed away Monday evening, following a battle with cancer. Bobo was 81 years old. Funeral arrangements

Bobo made his mark at two local institutions, Athens and Chillicothe High Schools. Bobo was a government and social studies teacher, but he was also a great track and field coach.

Bobo was a 1960 graduate of Chillicothe High School and continued his education at Ohio University in Athens. He began his teaching career at Southeastern High School in 1965 before moving to Athens High School where he was also the Athletic Director. After establishing successful programs in track and field and later cross country, a program he launched for the Bulldogs, he joined his father Robert at Chillicothe in 1975. He succeeded his father as the head of the Cavaliers’ track and field program in 1981, a position he held until his retirement in 1992.

From 1956 to 1992, there was a Bobo running the show on the track at Herrnstein Field. In 1994, the Chillicothe City School Board dedicated the track in honor of the father-son duo, naming it “Bobo Track”.

While at Athens, Phil Bobo’s track and field teams won three consecutive Southeast Ohio Athletic League titles. His cross country program four straight league championships and a Southeast District crown. Bobo’s Chillicothe teams won the Ohio Capital Conference titles in 1984, 1989, 1990 and 1991. The Cavs were also District champions in 1983 and 1990.

Bobo was inducted into the Athens High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998 and the Chillicothe High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013. At the reception following the induction ceremony at CHS, Bobo was quick to credit others for his success. “It’s a very good feeling. A lot of young people performed very well for me to be able to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Coaches and athletes made me.”

Phil Bobo (far right) with his fellow Chillicothe Hall of Fame inductees, the first class of two for 2013, Abby (Bunstine) Trotter, Dan Ramey, Athletic Director Will Brown (emcee), Chad McAllister and Bobo.

Bobo had thirty individual and relay event champions in the OCC and thirty-nine District Champions. He also guided the Cavaliers to five individual champions at Regional level, all of which reached the podium in the State Meet. Bobo compiled a 67-10 record in dual meets at Chillicothe, including a string of 25 consecutive OCC dual meets. Bobo briefly coached cross country for the Cavaliers with one individual District and Regional Champion and State Runner-up.