AHS Hall of Fame: Bondank was force on the football field
Published 5:54 pm Thursday, January 30, 2014
Ben Bondank was a great athlete in his time at Austin High School. But you’d never hear it from him.
Bondank, who is deceased, will be inducted into the AHS hall of Fame Friday, graduated from AHS in 1927 and he was a standout football and basketball player for the Packers.
Phil Bondank, who is Ben’s son, said he never heard much about his dad’s playing days. Then he began to talk to others who had seen Ben play.
“I knew my dad played, but he never talked much about it,” Phil said. “One summer when I was in Austin a couple of people told me that my dad was a heck of an athlete and one heck of a person.”
Phil went through the archives of the Austin Daily Herald at the library and found out that his dad was quite the quarterback in his day. Ben was a threat to score on kick-off and punt returns and he could throw and run for touch downs as well. He also was able to drop kick field goals from distances of 30 yards out.
Phil is proud to have his dad honored at AHS.
“Our whole family is excited about this,” Phil said. “He was a super dad and a super grandpa.”