Coaches

Bob Alpert

Year Inducted: 1982

Category: Coaches

Schools / Organizations: (Peru) Washington Junior High School
Illinois Valley Officials Association
United State Marine Corps

Biography: Before Bob’s devotion to coaching, he served our nation proudly as a member of the US Marines. He was a hero of the famous battle of Iwo Jima during WWII. His unit was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation. After the war, Bob remained active in the USMC Reserves and ultimately retired with the rank of major. Bob Alpert served as basketball coach at Peru’s Washington Junior High School from 1952-1970. Half of those years found Alpert’s teams undefeated. In the last seven years of coaching, Alpert, who coached two teams each year, had a combined record of 190-24. Three of the teams were unbeaten and one team ran off 52 consecutive victories. Alpert, who retired from teaching in 1981, started his coaching career at Logan (Iowa) High School where his club won a state sectional championship in 1948. The Robert Alpert Award is now given to the outstanding boy or girl athlete at Washington Junior High, now Parkside School. Additionally, Bob served as the president of the Illinois Valley Officials Association, an organization that he helped begin. For his lifetime of service to Illinois basketball, Bob was awarded the IBCA Buzzy O’Connor Award in 1994. Bob Alpert passed away on February 9, 2014 at the age of 92.