Ex Union star Tod Fobare recalls college career

by Ryan Fay

Tod Fobare was one of the standouts of Union's pre-Division I era. At the end of a four-year career that ended in 1983, he ranked as the hockey program's all-time points leader with 167.

The record stood until Terry Campbell broke it late in the 1990-1991 season, the program's last before making the jump to Division I. Campbell would finish his career with 170 points, but no Division I era player has come close to either number as the closest is Adam Presizniuk with 131.

Fobare, a two-time team captain and a one-time team MVP, almost never stepped foot on the Schenectady campus.

"I had an offer from Clarkson coming out of high school," Fobare recalled. "[But] I decided to do a post graduate year at New Hampton prep because the Dartmouth coach said he would take me the following year. I played football at New Hampton as well; I got hurt and had a slow start to the hockey season. Many of my Division I offers went away. I chose to go to Union and got a great education."

The Saranac Lake, New York native received more than just a great education at Union. He also received some terrific memories, especially of former head coach Charlie Morrison, who headed the program from 1978 to 1988.

"Charlie was one interesting guy. He had the best one liners ever," Fobare said. "The problem was it was difficult to take Charlie seriously, because he could hardly skate, although he had a terrific career at Union. He was always very supportive to me."

Another lasting memory of Morrison, who died not long after retiring from Union, came via a postgame celebration.  

"The legal age for drinking in New York was 18 when I was in college," Fobare said. "One night, after we won a big game, the team and coaches went to a disco named Sneaky Petes. After having several drinks and some dancing, Charlie said to our group that he was amazed about how big the disco was as he made his way to the bar. Unfortunately, for Charlie the disco wasn’t as big as he thought and he crashed into the mirrored wall and nearly knocked himself out. We had some fun with Charlie with that story."

Fobare said he had many teammates who were "great hockey players and characters," players like Dave Josephson, Bill Wall, Don Beall, and Scott Fitzgerald.

Wall and Fitzgerald were involved in another one of Fobare's better memories of his Union playing career.

"One night we were playing in Elmira, and Fitzgerald, as he had a tendency to do, got in a fight at the far end of the rink," Fobare recalled. "I was leaning over the bench with my linemates Beall and Wall, who was kind of my protector at the time. During the delay, the goalie from Elmira skated over to our bench. When the goalie got just in front of our bench, Wall stood up and punched him right in the nose and knocked him down. Wall stood there looking as proud as a peacock until I said to him: what the f___ are you doing? You just knocked out my best friend from high school."

Despite having a standout like Fobare, the program didn't have a ton of success during his four years. The team posted losing records each season and bottomed out with a 6-21 mark in the 1980-1981 campaign.

"Honestly, we had some good players, but at the time, we gave up way too many goals," Fobare said.

It was an improvement in goal that led to the program to new heights in the years following Fobare's graduation. The Dutchmen had three straight NCAA appearances from 1984-1986, including runner-up status in 1984 and a third place finish the following year.

"[Goaltender] Wayne McDougall broke through in 1984," said Fobare of the netminder who would go on to be inducted in the school's athletics Hall of Fame in 2005. "Morrison continued to build on his success."

Fobare, who also played baseball for three years at Union, joined McDougall in the school's Hall of Fame in 2010.

"I feel like I am the guy that represents all of my teammates that went through the lean years together," he said. "We are all extremely proud of the program and feel like we made a small contribution to the program’s success a long time ago."

Fobare, 53, never played professionally, but it wasn't due to a lack of offers.

"I had interest from three teams after my senior year to play in the IHL," he said. "My contract for each team would have been $800 per month and a case of beer on the bus for each road trip."

Nowadays, Fobare is based out of Texas, where he is the president of Fobare Commercial, L.P. and managing partner of Skyrise Properties, LLC. Being so far away from Messa Rink, the former Union star doesn't get to many games, but tries to get one in each season. He attended the Frozen Four last April with a bunch of ex-teammates, several of whom he remains close with.

"Sixteen of us have gone on a golf trip every year for twenty seven years," Fobare said. "Eight of the sixteen have never missed a trip."