Former Carthage College coach Ron Zalokar, 78, died on Saturday, Sept. 4 in Kenosha, Wis. His wife, Diane, passed away on Aug. 18. Zalokar held the longest coaching tenure in the history of Carthage athletics, posting 34 years of service. An assistant football coach for 18 years, he helped the legendary Art Keller lead the Red Men to eight CCIW championships from 1962 to 1973. Zalokar compiled a 204-242-8 record in 33 seasons as head wrestling coach from 1962 to 1994, a 451-195-1 mark as head men's track and field coach (1962-72, 1981 and 1983) and a 204-137 record in 17 years as head women's tennis coach between 1981 and 1997. 

He was inducted into both the Carthage Athletic Hall of Fame and the Monmouth College Hall of Fame in 1995 and to the Division III Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1999. Zalokar was also a professor of exercise and sport science until he retired in 1997.

A native of Oak Lawn, Ill., Zalokar graduated from Monmouth in 1954, received his masters from Western Illinois and Southern Illinois Universities and his doctorate from Marquette University. He taught at the Carthage campus in Carthage, Ill., before moving to Racine, Wis., in 1962 when the college moved to Kenosha, Wis. Memorials in Zalokar's honor may be made to the Zalokar Endowment Fund at the Carthage Development Office (2001 Alford Park Drive, Kenosha, WI 53140) or to the First Presbyterian Church Building Fund (716 College Avenue, Racine, WI 53403).