Sports, education and antiques are the passions of former Petes player Bob Carruth | Catch My Job

Sports have always been a part of Bob Carruth’s life, but it’s not the only thing he’s passionate about.

He was a shortstop for the Petes from 1980 to 1982, playing in a total of 59 games over the two seasons. Peterborough brought more to Bob’s life than hockey. His life changed forever in his 12th grade history class when he met his wife, Ann-Marie.

He showed a passion for hockey, but also a passion for history. Because of this, he taught history at Fenelon Falls High School, where he worked alongside Ann-Marie for 33 years.

“We came here, we interviewed, and I was lucky to get the job,” Carruth said.

Because sports have always been a part of Carruth’s life, when the opportunity arose to coach the school’s football team, he jumped at the chance, even though he had never played down in his life.

“I took on the challenge and found smarter people than me who are involved in different aspects of football,” Carruth said.

“Every game is the same. There are things you can control and there are things you can’t. Your attitude and your approach to the game is really how you play sports, that’s what I tried to teach.”

Off the field, Carruth also found a new passion with the help of Ann-Marie, who opened up a new world to him: antiques. Asking him to take her to an auction one day and a flea market the next. Carruth discovered that the same items cost more at a flea market than at an auction. Soon after, Carruth began going to yard sales to buy antiques.

Carruth opens his own antique shop, R. Carruth Antiques, inspired by his wife. The store sells a wide variety of items, including jewelry, furniture, dishes, and military weapons.

In addition to selling antiques from his shop, he also travels to on-site shows. Carruth will pack his truck and trailer with the various antiques to various locations where he will sell the items from his truck for a few days before coming home.

“Some people are very specific, they’re the teacups or the jewelers or they just buy military medals,” Carruth said. “I never cared. I like to buy things, there’s practically nothing that I’m not interested in when I’m old enough.”

In addition to selling antiques, Carruth has had stores like Montana’s and Bass Pro Shop contact him asking what items they could use to decorate their walls.

Although Carruth has found his passion outside of the sports world, he has not yet left the sports community. Raising her own children, Carruth revealed that school is important, but so is sports. Now he sits and watches his two grandchildren figure skate while coaching his grandson Bobby’s hockey team.

“Sport is the best thing in the world. It helps so many people and kids, it’s priceless,” Carruth said. “It doesn’t matter what sport it is, it teaches all kinds of great things, and I think a lot of the kids that I’ve coached, that’s why they came to school.”

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