After 54 years, Bob Bunting announces his retirement as Lisbon softball coach

LISBON — He could have coached another year.

“I feel good enough to do it,” Bob Bunting said. “But if I coached next year, I know with this group coming in, it would be hard to part with them and I’d want to go three or four more years.

“And I don’t know if I can do it for three or four more years. I’m not that young any more.”

So Bunting decided on a clean break, announcing his retirement as Lisbon High School softball coach. He met with athletics director Brandon Horman on Tuesday, then told his team of his decision Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s been a great 54 years,” Bunting said. “I’ve enjoyed the kids, and most of the parents. It’s been a good life.”

Bunting’s final career record is 1,323-658. He took 11 teams to the state tournament, including each of his last six.

His final game was a Class 2A consolation win over Northeast last month at Fort Dodge.

Lisbon won three consecutive Class 1A championships between 1994 and 1996 behind Hall of Fame pitcher Paige Stamp.

Bunting, who earned the IGHSAU Golden Plaque of Distinction last month, will turn 79 in October.

“I can still throw batting practice, and I can still hit ground balls and fly balls,” he said. “Once I can’t fulfill that stuff ... I don’t want to just be the voice. That’s not me.

“Am I going to miss it? No question. It has been part of my life for so long. I’ve been blessed with kids that are willing to work hard.”

Bunting was part of the last graduating class of Martelle High School, in 1962. There, he played baseball and basketball, the only two boys' sports the school offered.

He went on to play baseball at Wartburg College, then was hired as a high-school math teacher at Lisbon in the fall of 1966.

In addition to serving as the baseball coach (starting in 1966), Bunting took over the softball program in the fall of 1969 “because nobody else wanted it,” he said in 2019, and because he had fast-pitch experience, playing in the Major Open and Minor Open leagues.

The former athletics director (he served in that capacity for more than 30 years) “came to Lisbon, and I never left,” he said.

Current Lisbon AD Brandon Horman said Bunting’s “impact on the community has been tremendous. He has been dedicated to this for such a long time.

“People that coach for so long, you’re going to see it less and less going forward. He did it because he enjoyed it.”

“It benefited my health and kept me active,” Bunting said.

The timing of Bunting’s decision makes sense. Six starters from the 2023 Class 2A fifth-place team have graduated. Several members of this year’s eighth-grade class are poised to make an immediate impact in 2024.

Bunting’s focus will be his 20-acre farm north of Mount Vernon, where he raises cattle and chickens and grows hay and oats.

He won’t be a stranger to the field that bears his name.

“I’m going to show up, and I’m going to support these kids,” he said.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com