Bok, who was inducted into the UD Hall of Fame in 1969, died Wednesday at 86. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Jeanne Stewart Bok, five children, 19 grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.
“He was a treasured friend to many,” said former Dayton football coach Mike Kelly, now the assistant vice president for athletics. “Heaven has gained a true saint.”
Bok was a Toledo Central High School graduate who was recruited by Notre Dame. He started at halfback for four years and graduated in 1950.
Bok tied Jack Padley’s school record with 132 points in his career. The Flyers went 25-11-1 in his four seasons. He scored two touchdowns in a 26-21 upset of Cincinnati in 1947, and a year later, he helped the Flyers upset Miami 7-0, ending a 14-game losing streak to Miami.
Bok signed with the Indianapolis Colts after graduation. He decided instead to become a doctor and attended the Chicago School of Osteopathic Medicine and graduated in 1954.
Jayson remembers a meeting when Bok told Tom Frericks and Don Donoher he would work for the university for free, along with two other local doctors, Thomas Kramer and Bill Donahue.
“He told them, ‘We will be here on campus at the end of practice every day,” Jayson said. “‘We will take care of any athlete who is injured or sick.’ That just blew me out of my chair. I said, ‘Where is this coming from?’ He said, ‘My loyalty to UD.’ He set up physicals. We had every kind of specialist you can imagine.”
Bok practiced medicine in Dayton for 43 years, according to his obituary. He retired as Dayton’s team physician in 2001.
“Telling Tim Wabler (then associate AD) that I had to step down for health reasons was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do,” Bok told Ritter Collett, of the Dayton Daily News, in February 2001.
A visitation for Bok will be held from 3-7 p.m. today at Routsong Funeral Home in Centerville. A mass of Christian burial will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at the Church of the Incarnation at 55 Williamsburg Lane with a burial at Calvary Cemetery.
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