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GROBER’S BOARD SERVICE SPANNED 43 YEARS

Long-time Fort Smith Boys & Girls Club board member Jack Grober died on November 2, 2009.  Grober, age 85, served on the FSBGC board of directors for 43 years.  As a young boy, Jack joined the Boys Club when it was located at Judge Issac Parker’s courthouse.  The son of Frank and Ruby Grober, Jack attended school in Fort Smith and loved playing basketball and tennis.  His father Frank was an employee of Garrison Furniture.  After graduating from high school in 1941, Jack attended Kemper Military School and one semester at the University of Arkansas.

Grober served in the 71st Infantry Division, part of General Patton’s 3rd Army in Europe during World War II.  After Jack completed his military service in 1946, he returned to the University of Arkansas and completed his Bachelors Degree in 1949.

After college graduation, Jack joined his father in the furniture manufacturing business.  His father Frank, started working in the furniture business at age 11.  Frank Grober was elected to the Fort Smith Boys Club board of directors in 1947.  Jack joined the board in 1966, and served as board president in 1971-72. 

Jack Grober is survived by two daughters and one son, Barbara Lucas, Emily Long and Jack E. Grober Jr.; two grand-children and two great-grandchildren.

Playing football at age 11 at the Evans Boys Club with friends from Sallisaw, OK proved to be a very rewarding decision for Derek Fine. The Buffalo Bills tight end recalled starting his football career at the Boys & Girls Club during a recent interview titled “NFL: Player Shares Secrets to Success.”

Derek played midget league football for Coach Adam Webster and the McDonalds teams from the Evans unit. “I remember Derek like it was yesterday” said Webster, who has been a volunteer football coach at the Club for more than 33 years. “He and two of his friends from Sallisaw came over to the Club to play” he said. “I’m very proud of his accomplishments on the football field” he added. Webster also coached Auburn University offensive coordinator Gus Malzhan at the Evans Boys & Girls Club.

In his junior year at Kansas University, Fine was presented the Gale Sayers Award for the team’s most courageous player. He was a team captain in his senior year, in which he caught 46 passes for 394 total receiving yards. He was part of the Jawhawks team that went 12-1 and won the 2008 Orange Bowl.

Fine was selected in the fourth round of the 2008 NFL draft. On November 2, 2008 he caught his first pass in the NFL. It was a 9 yard touchdown strike thrown by quarterback Trent Edwards. “He threw it and I was like ‘Holy cow, I just caught a touchdown in the NFL,” said Fine. “I spiked that sucker as hard as I could!” Derek Fine is a native of Sallisaw, OK where he was a high school standout.