Bob Protexter #21

Founder of Total Baseball Development

712-490-7199

Bob Protexter
712-490-7199
protexter.tbd@gmail.com

Professional Bio

Protexter is a 1985 graduate of Sioux City East High School, and played 2nd Base for the East High Black Raiders. Protexter attended American Legion Boy's State at Camp Dodge in Des Moines, Iowa while at East High.

Protexter attended Pan American University, now University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley (NCAA Division I) in Edinburg, Texas for one and one half years from January 1986 to May of 1987, red-shirting in the spring of 1986. Protexter was a 2nd Baseman at Pan American.

Protexter transferred to Morningside College (then NCAA Division II, and currently NAIA) in his native Sioux City, Iowa, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree and graduated with a double major in Political Science and History in 1991. During his seasons of play at Morningside of 1988, 1989, and 1991, Protexter spent most of his time in the middle infield playing shortstop and second base with time also at third base and first base. Protexter was a career college .315 hitter.

Protexter?s Russian adventures started in March of 1990 when he went to the USSR to coach baseball for the Moscow Red Devils; the eventual 1990 Soviet Union National Champions, and then went on to the Soviet Union?s National Baseball Team for the European Championships in Parma, Italy, where the USSR National Team won the European Championships in Group B. This championship elevated the country into European Group A, the top group, after only four years of baseball in the Soviet Union.

Protexter returned in 1991 to again help coach the Red Devils; and repeated as the 1991 USSR National Champions, and again served on the coaching staff for the USSR National Baseball Team, this time in the Intercontinental Cup in Barcelona, Spain and in the European Championships (Group A) in Rome, Italy.

Protexter then worked five years for Major League Baseball?s (MLB) California Angels, now the Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim, from 1992 to 1996, heading up their Russian scouting program, and serving as the Angels liaison and Russian interpreter for the six players from the former USSR that signed contracts with the Angels and for the Angels staff.

Protexter then returned home to Sioux City in the fall of 1996, and in 1997 began to serve as an assistant baseball coach for head coach Jim Scholten?s squad at Morningside College until 2005. Protexter was not on staff in the spring of 1999, and spent 8 total years in this position at Morningside primarily working with the infielders and hitters, incorporating video analysis into their program, and directing their advance scouting program.

Protexter, during his time at Morningside College, took over the reins of the Sioux City Saints summer collegiate amateur baseball team in 1999. The Saints were founded in 1975, and traditionally play anywhere from 25 to 40 games a summer in a competitive schedule in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, and South Dakota. Protexter has served in every capacity from general manager to manager to player during this time, and continued to run the Saints through 2013.

Protexter also while at Morningside College and beyond maintained his Russian baseball on-field endeavors as a Bench Coach for the Russian National Baseball Teams at worldwide International Baseball Federation (IBAF) tournaments at the following venues from 1997 to 2019.

Junior World Championships - Canada - Summer 1997
Junior World Championships - Canada - Summer 2000
Senior European Championships (Group A) - Germany - Summer 2001
Senior World Championships - Taiwan - November 2001
Senior European Championships (Group A) - Holland - Summer 2003
Senior European Championships (Group A) - Spain - Fall 2007
Senior European Championships (Group B) - Bulgaria - Summer 2019

Protexter took a break during his time at Morningside College with the blessing of head coach Jim Scholten to serve as an on-field interpreter for a Russian minor leaguer in the minor league organization of MLB?s Seattle Mariners in 2001.

Protexter then in the fall of 2002 served as on-field interpreter during the MLB's Fall Instructional League and worked with Russian coaches and the San Francisco Giants minor league coaching staff through Major League Baseball International?s Coaching Development Program.

Protexter continues to consult and advise MLB clubs on the subject of Russian baseball, Russian baseball players, and the overall operation of Russian baseball programs.

Protexter worked for Olympic Panorama, a wing of the Russian Olympic Committee, in transportation logistics and interpretation at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah U.S.A..

Protexter then again worked in transportation logistics and interpretation for Olympic Panorama of the Russian Olympic Committee at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada.

Protexter in 2004 while at Morningside College began giving baseball lessons and in 2005 after the eight-year stint at Morningside College as an assistant founded Total Baseball Development (TBD); a baseball school located in Sioux City that offers individualized personal and group instruction, out-of-season leagues, clinics, camps, and player placement services for high school, college, and professional baseball players. Total Baseball Development serves as a local resource for extra baseball in the greater Siouxland area of northwest Iowa, eastern Nebraska, and southeastern South Dakota providing young players with local, state-wide, and nation-wide opportunities in baseball.

Protexter in 2008 started a high school age select Tournament Team called the Sioux City Bancrofts; named in honor of Dave Bancroft, Sioux City?s only Hall of Famer, born in Sioux City in 1891. In the Fall of 2009, the Bancrofts began as a Fall College Prospects team playing a full fall schedule including trips to Phoenix, Arizona. In the Spring of 2010 the Bancrofts began as an American Legion Baseball Team playing a full spring schedule with three straight trips to the Iowa American Legion State Tournament.

Protexter in the summer of 2009 began a new venture as an evaluator and coach for the Great Lakes Region of USA Baseball?s National Team Identification Series (NTIS) working in Chicago for the tryouts for the 17U, 15U, and 13U teams, and then traveling to USA Baseball?s Training Center in Cary, North Carolina in September as a coach of the 13U and 17U teams in the USA Baseball?s 2009 NTIS Series.

Protexter was the Iowa NTIS state director in 2010 for the Iowa NTIS and conducted workouts across the state during the month of August. Iowa players selected represented the six state Great Lakes region and traveled to Cary, North Carolina for the 2010 USA Baseball National Team Identification Series consisting of the three separate age groups of 17U, 15U, and 13U, that featured a total of 648 players. The event was held September 9 to September 12 at the USA Baseball National Training Complex and adjoining Thomas Brooks Park in Cary, North Carolina with the primary purpose of choosing and selecting candidates for the 2011 USA National Teams for 18U, 16U, and 14U.

Protexter was then the Nebraska NTIS state director in 2011 and operated statewide workouts in Nebraska for the Midwest Region (Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas) of USA Baseball. Three Team Nebraskasa, one each in the 17U, 15U, and 13U age categories where assembled from these workouts and competed in USA Baseballa?s Midwest Regional Showcase in St. Louis, Missouri on August 19, 20, and 21. From this workout and from these states players were selected to represent the Midwest Region in USA Baseballa?s 2011 National Team Identification Series (NTIS) on September 9, 10, and 11 at the USA Baseball National Training Complex and adjoining Thomas Brooks Park in Cary, North Carolina with the primary purpose of choosing and selecting candidates for the 2012 USA National Teams for 18U, 16U, and 14U.

Protexter worked as Head Coach for the Kansas City Sluggers in the summer of 2012. The Sluggers are a traveling high school age showcase team whose organization is run by former MLB player Brian McRae.

Protexter in the early winter of 2019 returned to Russia as a Consultant, Advance Scout, and Assistant Coach for the senior Russian National Team in their quest to qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.

Protexter in 2021 began as the Head Baseball Coach at Graettinger-Terrill-Ruthven-Ayshire High School in Ruthven, Iowa where he served in the summers of 2021 and 2022.

Protexter in October of 2020 started a new American Legion team in the name of the Iowa Great Lakes Okobojis where in Iowa this is a spring season with tryouts in Febraury and games in March and April. The Okbojis were sponsored by Milford Post #384 in the springs of 2021 and 2022 and in 2023 the Okobojis began being sponsored by Spencer Post #1 and call Cardinal Field in Spencer, Iowa their home field. In the Fall of 2022 the Okobojis expanded their seasons to include a trip to Phoenix, Arizona to play in the prestigious invitation only Arizona Fall Classic - Easton Fall Classic with games at the Spring Training Complexes of the San Diego Padres and the Seattle Mariners. In the fall of 2023 the Okobojis began as a Fall College Prospects team playing a 25+ game schedule starting in late August in Minneapolis and again finishing in the End of Fall - End of Year tradition of playing in the Arizona Fall Classic - Easton Fall Classic.

Protexter resides in Sioux City, Iowa, and is the son of the late Marvella Protexter, an avid baseball fan and supporter at Morningside College and in the Sioux City community for over 50 years; and the late Don Protexter, former longtime head baseball coach of 28 years (1955 to 1983) and Athletic Director at Morningside College.