2019 Inductee
In 2018 we posthumously inducted long time Dubuque Senior coach Jim Boughton into our Hall of Fame. Coach Boughton had some amazing athletes during his career with the Rams, but there is one that sticks out above the rest and had I had my head screwed on straight a year ago, Rob Brock could have shared the stage with his beloved coach.
But what didn’t happen then, is happening now and Rob gets his well-deserved recognition today.
With 3 older brothers, who were active in everything, Rob became active in everything as well. By the time he reached Junior High it had become quite apparent that running, and running well, would be his focus for many years to come. He ran the 1600 once in 7th grade in 5:03 and once again in 8th grade, this time clocking 4:47.
Rob initially planned to play football in high school but decided to join older brother Jay on the cross country team instead. He soon became hooked. He liked training, he liked racing and he loved winning. He would finish 4th at the 1993 state meet as a 9th grader and the team finished a close 2nd to City High. In all, Rob finished in the top 4 at state all 4 years at Senior: 4th, 1st, 1st and 3rd.
As a sophomore in 1995 Rob led the Rams to a 1-2-3 individual finish at the state cross country meet and Senior to the 4A team title.
In the spring of 1997 Rob would win his 4th state title in the 3200, becoming the first Iowa high school athlete to accomplish this feat and remains only 1 of 2 to complete that sweep. He would win a total of 6 state track titles during his career, adding gold medals in the 800 and 1600 to his list of accomplishments. During his high school career at the Drake Relays, Rob won 7 medals, including gold in the 3200 in ‘96 and ‘97 and a 3rd gold as the anchor of the Medley Relay in 1996.
Rob is still listed on the Iowa high school All Time lists in the 1600 with a PR of 4:16.5, a 3200 best of 9:09.17 and a 1600 meter medley that ran 3:38.91.
Following his high school career Rob moved on to join brother Jay at UNI. A career highlight for the 4X all Missouri Valley performer, was the 2000 Drake Relays. Stanford made the trip to Des Moines that year with their talented distance corp. The Cardinal lost to Missouri in the 4×800, won the DMR rather handily and fully intended to win another gold by breaking the tape in the 4×1600. But Rob and his UNI teammates had other ideas. Brock ran an outstanding 4:04 3rd leg, putting the Panthers anchor runner right alongside Stanford’s Brad Hauser, who a month later would make the US Olympic team in the 5,000. Four laps on the Blue Oval later, UNI would win gold by 5/100 of a second.
Rob is now employed by Heartland Retirement Group and he and his wife Emily live in West Des Moines with their 2 children, Lena and Kate.