Bowling Green State University Athletics
Heritage Series: Bob Dwors
April 17, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Falcon Club, Hall of Fame, Heritage Sports
Throughout the months of April and May, BGSUFalcons.com will be highlighting some of the men and women who have impacted the University, the community and the athletics department. From pioneers to more recent members of the campus community, Matt Markey will be providing the stories of our history. In our first installment, Bob Dwors remembers his time at the University.
The month of April is open nomination month for the BGSU Athletics Hall of Fame. To nominate an individual or team for inclusion, please CLICK HERE.
When Bob Dwors started his basketball career at BGSU, there were three individuals in the program that cast very large shadows over the court – All-Americans Nate Thurmond and Howard Komives, along with Hall of Fame head coach Harold Anderson.
But by the time he graduated, Dwors had placed himself among the greatest to ever play the game for the Falcons. He would be a unanimous first team All-Mid-American Conference pick as a senior in the 1964-65 season, when he was one of the top scorers in the country at 23.0 points per game.
Dwors also ranked in the top five in the conference that year in scoring, rebounding (10.8) and field goal percentage (51.7), and ranked seventh in the MAC in free throw percentage at 78.6 percent.
He would graduate from Bowling Green with a degree in business and a 3.22 GPA, which earned him the prestigious NCAA National Scholarship for his post-graduate studies. Dwors was one of only five basketball players in the country to receive the honor.
He played one season for Anderson, and the final two for Warren Scholler, since freshmen were not eligible to play on the varsity at the time. Dwors' 23.0 scoring average as a senior is the seventh best in BGSU history, and he finished his career with 803 points and 480 rebounds.
"If someone were to ask me, I'd probably say those were some of the greatest years of my life," said the 75-year-old Dwors, now retired and living in south Florida. "With the success we had in basketball, and everything else that was going on at the campus, it was a great time to be at Bowling Green."
A native of Mayfield Heights in the Cleveland area, Dwors was a standout three-sport athlete in high school who had a variety of options to play football, baseball or basketball at the collegiate level, but when BG made a scholarship offer, the college search was over.
"I was dating a girl who was going to BG at the time, so that pretty much made up my mind," he said. "I ended up loving the place."
Dwors played both baseball and basketball his freshman year at Bowling Green, but focused exclusively on basketball the rest of the way. As a sophomore on the powerhouse 1962-63 Falcon team that stunned top-ranked and eventual national champion Loyola 92-75 in front of a raucous crowd of 5,734 fans at Anderson Arena, Dwors recalls entering the game with about seven or eight minutes to play.
"What stands out about that game is that we didn't just beat them – we pretty much ran them out of the gym. And that team went on to win the national championship that season," Dwors said.
"We were probably better than we showed, and we beat the heck out of the national champs. We were as good as any team in the country."
The following year, with Thurmond now playing in the pros and the Falcon senior Komives leading the nation in scoring at 36.7 points per game, Dwors emerged as another ultra-talented Bowling Green player before assuming the team-leader role the following season.
"BG was a good Midwest school where everybody was treated the same. Everybody got along, we enjoyed playing on the same team with each other, and we never looked back," said Dwors, who was inducted into the BGSU Hall of Fame in 1998.
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After leaving campus, Dwors went on to earn an MBA, and joined former BGSU basketball teammate Derry Curran in Florida where they operated a very successful real estate brokerage and development firm. During his long business career, Dwors also worked as a senior vice-president of real estate with AutoNation, and at the Huizenga Group.
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Dwors said his background in athletics and team sports provided a very good foundation for his long tenure in the business world.
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"I don't think there is anything any better to prepare you for the social part of business, or the social part of college, because in sports you are always dealing with people, and different kinds of people," he said. "When you go into business, it is exactly the same thing."
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Dwors said he stayed in touch with Komives until the former BG career scoring leader passed away in 2009, and Dwors remains close with many of his Sigma Chi fraternity brothers from his BGSU days.
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"Bowling Green was just a place where everyone felt comfortable and had a lot of fun, all while getting a good education," he said. "I think way too much is made of 'I went to this place or that place' when college is really about how you go from being a kid to being a man in those four years. Bowling Green was absolutely the right place for me to make that transition."
----
ABOUT THE FALCON CLUB
The Falcon Club Scholarship and Success Fund was created to align the Athletic Department's fundraising priorities with the increasing need for scholarship support. Falcon Club membership gifts allow our programs to recruit and retain the best student-athletes as we compete for championships in the MAC and WCHA, while also preparing our current Falcons for success upon graduation. We hope you will consider helping us change lives by making an investment in the 400+ student-athletes that represent BGSU on the field, in the classroom and in the community. To make a gift please visit https://falconfunded.bgsu.edu/project/5311 or call 419-372-2401 to learn more.
The month of April is open nomination month for the BGSU Athletics Hall of Fame. To nominate an individual or team for inclusion, please CLICK HERE.
When Bob Dwors started his basketball career at BGSU, there were three individuals in the program that cast very large shadows over the court – All-Americans Nate Thurmond and Howard Komives, along with Hall of Fame head coach Harold Anderson.
But by the time he graduated, Dwors had placed himself among the greatest to ever play the game for the Falcons. He would be a unanimous first team All-Mid-American Conference pick as a senior in the 1964-65 season, when he was one of the top scorers in the country at 23.0 points per game.
Dwors also ranked in the top five in the conference that year in scoring, rebounding (10.8) and field goal percentage (51.7), and ranked seventh in the MAC in free throw percentage at 78.6 percent.
He would graduate from Bowling Green with a degree in business and a 3.22 GPA, which earned him the prestigious NCAA National Scholarship for his post-graduate studies. Dwors was one of only five basketball players in the country to receive the honor.
He played one season for Anderson, and the final two for Warren Scholler, since freshmen were not eligible to play on the varsity at the time. Dwors' 23.0 scoring average as a senior is the seventh best in BGSU history, and he finished his career with 803 points and 480 rebounds.
"If someone were to ask me, I'd probably say those were some of the greatest years of my life," said the 75-year-old Dwors, now retired and living in south Florida. "With the success we had in basketball, and everything else that was going on at the campus, it was a great time to be at Bowling Green."
A native of Mayfield Heights in the Cleveland area, Dwors was a standout three-sport athlete in high school who had a variety of options to play football, baseball or basketball at the collegiate level, but when BG made a scholarship offer, the college search was over.
"I was dating a girl who was going to BG at the time, so that pretty much made up my mind," he said. "I ended up loving the place."
Dwors played both baseball and basketball his freshman year at Bowling Green, but focused exclusively on basketball the rest of the way. As a sophomore on the powerhouse 1962-63 Falcon team that stunned top-ranked and eventual national champion Loyola 92-75 in front of a raucous crowd of 5,734 fans at Anderson Arena, Dwors recalls entering the game with about seven or eight minutes to play.
"What stands out about that game is that we didn't just beat them – we pretty much ran them out of the gym. And that team went on to win the national championship that season," Dwors said.
"We were probably better than we showed, and we beat the heck out of the national champs. We were as good as any team in the country."
The following year, with Thurmond now playing in the pros and the Falcon senior Komives leading the nation in scoring at 36.7 points per game, Dwors emerged as another ultra-talented Bowling Green player before assuming the team-leader role the following season.
"BG was a good Midwest school where everybody was treated the same. Everybody got along, we enjoyed playing on the same team with each other, and we never looked back," said Dwors, who was inducted into the BGSU Hall of Fame in 1998.
Â
After leaving campus, Dwors went on to earn an MBA, and joined former BGSU basketball teammate Derry Curran in Florida where they operated a very successful real estate brokerage and development firm. During his long business career, Dwors also worked as a senior vice-president of real estate with AutoNation, and at the Huizenga Group.
Â
Dwors said his background in athletics and team sports provided a very good foundation for his long tenure in the business world.
Â
"I don't think there is anything any better to prepare you for the social part of business, or the social part of college, because in sports you are always dealing with people, and different kinds of people," he said. "When you go into business, it is exactly the same thing."
Â
Dwors said he stayed in touch with Komives until the former BG career scoring leader passed away in 2009, and Dwors remains close with many of his Sigma Chi fraternity brothers from his BGSU days.
Â
"Bowling Green was just a place where everyone felt comfortable and had a lot of fun, all while getting a good education," he said. "I think way too much is made of 'I went to this place or that place' when college is really about how you go from being a kid to being a man in those four years. Bowling Green was absolutely the right place for me to make that transition."
----
ABOUT THE FALCON CLUB
The Falcon Club Scholarship and Success Fund was created to align the Athletic Department's fundraising priorities with the increasing need for scholarship support. Falcon Club membership gifts allow our programs to recruit and retain the best student-athletes as we compete for championships in the MAC and WCHA, while also preparing our current Falcons for success upon graduation. We hope you will consider helping us change lives by making an investment in the 400+ student-athletes that represent BGSU on the field, in the classroom and in the community. To make a gift please visit https://falconfunded.bgsu.edu/project/5311 or call 419-372-2401 to learn more.
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