Bob Koupeny

Athletic achievement is not always synonymous with physical brawn. Exhibit A: Bob Koupeny, the 106-pound “Little Blacksmith” who was one of the most successful wrestlers to graduate from Antioch High. A local sportswriter gave him the nickname as a metaphor to describe how Bob’s strong-arm moves hammered his opponents into submission. Bob Koupeny participated in three sports as a Panther; tennis, cross-country and wrestling, however wrestling “became my passion,” he said. All four years of his high school career (1964-1967) included a trip to the Diablo Valley Athletic League finals as a wrestler; fourth place as a freshman at 106 pounds, first place as a sophomore and junior at 106 pounds and second place as a senior at 115 pounds. The final three seasons resulted in moving on to the North Coast Championships, where he placed second as a sophomore and first in both his junior and senior years, which then qualified him to compete in the Northern California championships for three consecutive years: the first AHS wrestler to do so. Bob placed third in California as a senior. Antioch High’s MVP wrestler for three straight years was also named “Wrestler of the Meet” in the DVAL championships in 1966. He didn’t allow any points to be scored against him in any of his three matches and was undefeated as a junior. Antioch was host of the North Coast meet in 1966, in which Bob trounced his Livermore opponent 13-0 to win the 106-pound championship. Bob was offered a scholarship to wrestle at U.C. Berkeley, then the hotbed of student anti-war protests, but instead enlisted in the U.S. Army at the height of the Vietnam War after a brief stay at DVC. Following his military service, Bob went back to school at Diablo Valley College, then transferred to St. Mary’s College where he received a bachelor’s degree in history in 1975.