Bob Sobotta’s latest adventure on the basketball court turned out to be one of his most painful. As usual, though, he’s trying to draw a lesson from it.

The retired school administrator and former Lapwai High and Lewis-Clark State athlete, whose basketball-rich family was featured in the Tribune three weeks ago, is recovering from a hip fracture sustained while giving a grandson some pointers at a hoop outside his home near Lapwai.

Sobotta, 82, underwent surgery at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center at Lewiston shortly after the accident March 21, and he’s recovering at a health-care center in the Lewiston Orchards.

“They say I’m doing well in recovery,” he said by phone Sunday, sounding upbeat. “I’m feeling pain but I’m not feeling sorry for myself.... I have no one to blame but myself. I was thinking I was 28 again instead of 82.”

Sobotta said he was giving tips to grandson JC Sobotta, a Lapwai High junior, on how to make better use of his 6-foot-3 stature.

“I had both my hands straight up in the air and I said, ‘I want you to shoot over me.’ He started to shoot and I tried to elevate. I fell down and broke my hip. I knew I wasn’t going to get up. JC felt really bad, even though he didn’t have anything to do with it.

“Boy, I learned the hard way, but I did learn how much my family loved me,” he said. “They were all there in a second.”

Among the most solicitous was the family schnauzer, Curry (named after Stephen Curry), who broke from his leash and hastened to the scene.

“I didn’t have so many kisses so fast in all my life,” Sobotta said. Later, as he was being whisked away in an ambulance, Sobotta thought, “My dog’s thinking I’m gone for good.”

Because the accident came in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, visitors at the care center aren’t allowed to interact with Sobotta directly. But his wife made sure to escort Curry to the glass partition, “so he knows I’m surviving.”

Sobotta expects to have surgical staples removed from his hip late this week, and hopes to be released Sunday.

As an elusive guard on a well-balanced team, Sobotta helped Lapwai to the first of its 10 boys’ state titles in 1956. He said he gave up basketball games such as 21 about five years ago, but still practices shooting on occasion.

Four of Bob and Loretta Sobotta’s six children made significant contributions to Lapwai High basketball teams, and 10 of their grandchildren have also played the game. Together, the family has been a part of 10 state championships, including eight for Lapwai.

His accident, Sobotta said, is affording him a perspective on what many coronavirus patients are describing these days: a gratitude for the human impulse to help those in distress. He mentioned not only friends and relatives but the medical personnel who treated him, from the paramedics to the hospital and care-center staff.

“I’ve met a lot of caring, nice people this past week,” he said. “I’ve gained a better appreciation of people, I guess. I was never negative about people before. But these people are so caring. I’ve just been reflecting back through my whole life. I know I’ve been blessed.”

Grummert may be contacted at (208) 848-2290 or [email protected].