Ron Sobczak, a longtime Toledo-area radio host and the announcer at Raceway Park, whose enthusiastic delivery captivated listeners and railbirds alike, died Wednesday in Regency Hospital Toledo in Sylvania. He was 75.

He was hospitalized since February when he was found in his Oregon residence after not showing up at Hollywood Casino Toledo, where he worked security. He was in shock, the aftermath of blood loss from multiple stomach ulcers, said his son, Joshua. 

He had a heart attack while at Mercy Health St. Charles Hospital in Oregon and later was transferred to the Cleveland Clinic, Select Specialty Hospital-Cleveland Fairhill, and in late May to Regency.

Mr. Sobczak closed his radio career more than a decade ago on WRQN-FM, 93.5. He was known as Tom or Tommy Collins in his earliest radio days. He got his start at a Lima, Ohio, station and worked in Wichita, Kan., before returning to Toledo.

“He loved to entertain people, and he was one of the best at it,” his son said.

Over decades, he was on the air at WOHO-AM, WCWA-AM, and WMHE-FM, which let him go from his morning shift for having an air personality that was too “AM oriented,” the general manager at the time, Ruth Ray, told The Blade in 1980.

“He was a fast rambler. He was a clipper. He was moving it,” Buddy Carr, a longtime radio personality, said of Mr. Sobczak’s delivery. “He would go on the air and have a hot cup of coffee and a Coca-Cola next to him.”

Cliff Smithers ran home afternoons from Emmanuel Christian High School “so I could listen to Ron on WOHO.

“I always wanted to be in radio, and listening to Ron, he was my mentor,” said Mr. Smithers, co-host of the morning Lyn and Cliff Show on WKKO-FM, K100. “He was so good on the radio. He sounded cool. I held on to every word he said on the radio. He had a passion for the music, and he made the music he played come alive. He made the radio come alive.

“He just really loved the audience. The audience loved him back for what he had done in this town for so many years,” Mr. Smithers said.

The pair became friends when Mr. Sobczak had the 7 p.m.-midnight shift on WRQN, and Mr. Smithers worked down the hall, for his evening K100 shift.

“I never thought it my wildest imagination that I would become best friends with him,” said Mr. Smithers, whose first radio job in 1989 was at K100. “We would go fishing. I would always look over [and say], ‘I cannot believe that you and I are friends and that you are riding in my car.’ 

“He was always an encouragement to me, to keep at it. I can’t tell you the feeling I got when he told me he thought I was the best.” 

For several years, Mr. Sobczak — while still on the radio — worked on the assembly line at the Toledo Jeep plant. He formerly announced games on the radio from the Sports Arena for Toledo Goaldiggers hockey games.

He also was a longtime track announcer at Raceway Park and, after its closing in 2013, announced races at Northville Downs in suburban Detroit, Mr. Smithers said.

“Radio was his passion, but his other passion was calling races at Raceway Park,” Mr. Smithers said. “I would go up to the booth at Raceway. I was amazed at how good he was. He knew the horses and he knew the riders, and when he called a race he was looking through his binoculars and looking at the program and never missed a beat. It was really a thrill to watch.” 

Penn National Gaming, the last owner of Raceway Park, offered Mr. Sobczak a job in security at its Hollywood Casino Toledo after the track closed.

Ronald Frank Sobczak was born Feb. 4, 1947, to Hyacinth and Frank Sobczak and grew up on Pearl Street in North Toledo. He was a graduate of Central Catholic High School, where he played basketball, and served in the Army Reserve.

Appearing in the former "Dossier" feature in the Saturday Peach section, Mr. Sobczak in 1999 wrote that his first job was as a copyboy and clerk in The Blade classified advertising department.

He was formerly married to Cathy Brennan.

Surviving are his son, Joshua Sobczak, and two grandchildren.

Visitation will be from noon-3 p.m. Saturday at Walker Funeral Home-Oregon Chapel, where memorial services will begin at 3 p.m.

The family suggests tributes to St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis.

First Published June 17, 2022, 4:00 a.m.