Bob Teeples
Ballplayers Wounded in Combat
| Date and Place of Birth: | August 14, 1918 Black River Falls, WI |
| Date and Place of Death: | August 5, 2011 Black River Falls, WI |
| Baseball Experience: | Minor League |
| Position: | Pitcher/Shortstop |
| Rank: | Second Lieutenant |
| Military Unit: | 32nd Infantry Division and Alamo Scouts, US Army |
| Area Served: | Pacific Theater of Operations |
Robert W. "Bob" Teeples, the son of Oscar and Nellie Teeples, was born
on August 14, 1918, in Black River Falls, Wisconsin. Aged 19, he signed
with the Eau Claire Bears of the Class D Northern League in 1938, and
made 11 appearances for a 1-2 record. He was out of organized baseball
in 1939, playing semi-pro ball with his hometown Black River Falls
Merchants, but re-appeared in 1940, as a spectacles-wearing shortsop
with the La Crosse Blackhawks of the newly-formed Class D Wisconsin
State League, playing 14 games and batting .170.
Teeples entered military service in October 1940. By April 1941, he was
an army truck driver at Camp Livingston, Louisiana, but his days were
soon to change. Private First-Class Teeples served in the Pacific
Theater for 37 months, including combat time with the 32nd Infantry
Division in New Guinea - where he was awarded the Silver Star - and the
Philippine Islands. He was assigned temporary duty to a special forces
unit with the 6th Army, known as the Alamo Scouts, and graduated from
the first Alamo Scouts training class on Fergusson Island, New Guinea,
in February 1944. It was the purpose of the Alamo Scouts to conduct
reconnaissance and raider work behind the enemy lines and send back
valuable information. The unit is best known for its role in liberating
American prisoners of war from the Japanese Cabanatuan POW camp near
Cabanatuan, in the Philippines, in January 1945.
Teeples later returned to the 32nd Infantry Division, where he received
a battlefield commission to 2nd lieutenant in May 1945, at Luzon. He was
later severely wounded while on a patrol and returned to the United
States for hospitalization.
Teeples was 27 years old when the war ended. He didn't return to
professional baseball, but continued to pitch at the semi-pro level with
the Black River Falls Merchants and the Whitehall team in the
Trempealeau Valley League. He was the first president of the Jackson
County Little League in 1954.
Teeples was a plant accountant with the Community Telephone Company from
1945, and later held the position of construction and maintenance
supervisor for the Western District. When the company merged with the
General Telephone Company in 1959, he became the construction supervisor
for the Western District. In 1959, he was transferred to Madison,
Wisconsin, to become the state construction co-ordinator. He later
served in Wausau as field engineer and real estate administrator,
returning to Black River Falls in that same capacity where he retired in
1980 after 32 years with the telephone company.
In 1976, Teeples received the General Telephone Company Community
Service Award and the Black River Falls Community Service Award in 1984.
He was also selected as one of Wisconsin’s Ten Most Admired Senior
Citizens in 1984. In 2006, he was inducted into the “Hall of Heroes” at
the Tomah Veterans Administration Medical Center, and in 2008, he
received the Black River Falls Rotary Club’s Lifetime Achievement Award
for community service. He was the author of five books: “Jackson County
Veterans, Volume 1 (1983) and Volume 2 (1986);” “Brockway Centennial
Celebration (1990);” “Historic Hatfield (1992);” and “Fair Play (1996).”
Bob Teeples passed away at his home in Black River Falls, on August 5,
2011. He was 92 years old, and is buried at Riverside Cemetery, in Black
River Falls.
Date Added January 28, 2018
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