By Mark Dorfman
Bobby Salazar. The Mayor of Aptos. The Head Custodian at Aptos High School for 42 years. The lodestar for the Mariner ship.
Bobby Salazar
Bobby passed away two years ago this spring, but the hole he left has not been filled. A group of students, coaches, and teachers, past and present, have established a GoFundMe in an effort to raise enough money to provide a perpetual $1,000 scholarship in Bobby’s name, to be given each year to a deserving Aptos High graduate.
Bobby was the head custodian for 42 years.
Talk about bringing your work home with you, Bobby and his family lived on campus that entire time. He was a fixture in our school and our community, greeting students and ex-students by name, and greeting strangers visiting our campus with a smile and a “Welcome to Aptos High School, the best high school in the county!”
He opened the school gate every morning at 5:30 a.m., and he locked it up each night when everyone finally left.
In addition to his duties as head custodian, Bobby was an assistant football coach, an AYBA basketball coach, an announcer for boys and girls basketball games, a many-time Mariner-of-the-Month, and the CSEA Chapter president for five years.
Bobby Salazar stands with the Mariner mascot.
Bobby served on the SITE Council and the Home-and-School Club, and was an advisor for the Key Club and for the Skate Club. He was a regular contributor to the Albatross, emceed Grad Night, and chaperoned senior trips to Disneyland and the Bay Cruise.
He fiddled for the school play, sang at school assemblies, and gave staff in-services on gangs. He was selected many, many times by the seniors to hand out roses at graduation.
In 2010, he was inducted into the Aptos High Sports Hall of Fame as an honorary member. His standing ovation at his induction lasted more than ten minutes.
Bobby hangs out at the entrance to Aptos High School, where he served as head custodian for 42 years.
Bobby also changed every light bulb on campus, oiled every hinge, vacuumed or mopped every floor, lined every field, dug ditches, planted sod, cleaned sewers and gutters, painted walls, answered phones, fixed toilets, and cut, burned, sprained, strained, and shocked himself too many times to count in the cause of Aptos High School. If you knocked on his door at five in the morning or at 11:00 o’clock at night, he’d greet you with the same smile and ask how he can help.
Just as importantly, Bobby counseled every student that came to him for help and guidance, and for 42 years he treated every student with friendship, kindness, and the utmost respect.
Bobby was happily married to Rebecca for 41 years, and he is survived by Rebecca and his three wonderful children, Cynthia, Melissa, and Robert, and his adorable granddaughter Diandra.
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If you’d like to donate to Bobby’s Scholarship Fund, please go to: www.gofundme.com/f/bobbys-scholarship-fund
Or you can mail your check directly to: Aptos Sports Foundation, PO Box 2405, Aptos, CA 95003. Please make your check payable to “The Aptos Sports Foundation”and write “Bobby’s Scholarship Fund” on the memo line.