Alumni Spotlight – Robert Seitz ‘65

Looking back on his SHS academic career, Bob Seitz admits, “I could have worked a little harder. But I’ll always remember my coaches and teachers. They were always there to give support. I saw them as mentors and role models. They never gave up on me.”

As it was yesterday, he rattles off the names: Roger Gaeckler and Lowell Wakeland, who coached the basketball team where Bob was a two-year letterman; Bob McCoy and Don Blough who coached the baseball team where he earned three letters as a pitcher and centerfielder; Steve Cherry, his math teacher who had the uncanny ability of sensing when Bob did not understand the solution to a problem. “He’d come back to my desk and work with me till I got it.”

Bob was a football manager and a member of the Chess Club and the Coin Club. “But mostly,” he said, “I was a gym-rat. There were some really great athletes in our class, specifically naming baseball teammates Larry Stifffler, Greg Albrecht, and Terry Rehmeyer. The 1965 football and baseball teams were very talented, each recording 8-2 records and narrowly beating out Red Lion for county honors.”

He also remembers his history teacher Sid Earhart. “When it came time to talk about life after Susquehannock, it was Mr. Earhart who encouraged me to go to Penn State. I wasn’t sure about what career I wanted to pursue and he said Penn State would give me good exposure and had a wide range of academic options.”

Bob did take Mr. Earhart’s advice and graduated from Penn State with a degree in Business Management and Accounting in 1969. While there, he was an intern for the “Big Eight” accounting firm Arthur Young, a company he eventually apprenticed with while earning his credentials as a Certified Public Accountant. He stayed in public accounting for five years, living and working in Baltimore.

In 1974, he returned to York County to become the Controller of Yorktowne Cabinets, a position he held for 10 years. From there he became Chief Financial Officer of Wexco Corporation, parent company of Fox Pool Corporation, a York based manufacturer of vinyl pool liners and swimming pool kits.

All the while, Bob continued to play in York County town-league baseball, first in the Susquehanna League (nine years) and then in the Central League (14 years), winning five league championships and more than 150 games as a pitcher. He is one of three players to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in both leagues. He remained active coaching men’s senior league baseball and supporting Penn State athletics. During this period, he served in the Pennsylvania National Guard for six years as a medical corpsman.

In 1993, Bob was named President of Fox Pool Corporation. Under his leadership, Fox developed a nationwide dealer network along with several company-owned stores. Fox has been in business since 1957 and has received numerous national and international design and building awards. It is the largest majority “employee owned” pool company in the U.S. with more than 60,000 in-ground installations. Bob currently serves on the Association of Pool and Spa Professionals Manufacturer’s Council. (www.foxpool.com)

Bob married Warrior alum Cindy (Walker), Class of 1968 in 1970. They have three children: Steven (Chicago School of Law, working for the U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission), Patrick (M.B.A Villanova University, working as a CPA Manager for Ernst and Young), and Laura (Masters’ Degree Villanova University, working as an H.R. generalist for the Hay Group.)

Thanks to Bob Seitz, Class of 1965, for making us Warrior Proud