Robert Hollenbeck '26
Date of birth: November 27, 1903
Date of death: November 14, 1929
Age: 25
Lucky Bag
From the 1926 Lucky Bag:
Robert Hope Hollenbeck
Chicago, Illinois
"Bob" "Holly"
HOLLY takes life seriously. Perhaps you're not convinced, to look at his smiling phiz, but ask him and he'll vehemently assure you. And if still you doubt, consider how he goes after that 440-record. Youngster year it seemed as though he'd tucked it safely away, when he chalked up a new Academy record. But records don't always stay put. Which is perhaps just as well, for it gives one something to work toward. "It's worth it, too," says he, and flashes that grin of his. Six months of training table with Olympic tryouts at the end are not to be despised. Of course, everything is not always sugar and molasses. There are, for instance, certain well-known ropes to be climbed. If you didn't know, you'd say there was Dago, too; but be not misled, Holly enjoys fooling the Dago Profs as much as he enjoys eating apple dumplings with hard sauce, at which he holds the Intercollegiate Record of three.
Holly used to insist he was a Red Mike and for two years he did remain a steadfast Benedick. But one fair day he was lured from the straight and narrow into dragging blind and now———
"Well, last time I dragged a 4.0, so even if she is a brick this time, I'll still average 2.5."
Swimming Squad (4, 3, 2, 1); N (3), Olympic Tryouts (3), Navy Numerals (2); Choir (4).
Loss
Robert was lost on November 14, 1929 when he and another man were "overcome by carbon monoxide gas in the bottom of the battleship New York." He had reported aboard in October 1928; his previous tour was aboard USS Hull (DD 330).
Memorial Hall Error
Robert's name is spelled incorrectly on the Class of 1926 panel in Memorial Hall as "Hollenback."
Class of 1926
Robert is one of 36 members of the Class of 1926 on Virtual Memorial Hall.
