Popular band leader Bob Kuban dies; was a St. Louis legend and huge Cardinals fan

By Sally Tippett Rains

The music world has lost a St. Louis treasure. Bob Kuban, who rose to fame with the hit single, The Cheater, by Bob Kuban and the In-Men, has died from complications after suffering a stroke.

The Cheater hit the Billboard charts after being released in 1965, topping out at number 12 in 1966. He followed that success by becoming one of the most beloved and well-known musicians in the St. Louis area for decades.

Kuban was 84.

Kuban has always had a baseball connection and a love for the Cardinals. For many years he was a fixture on the St. Louis baseball scene.

Bob Kuban and the In-Men performed at the opening of Busch Stadium II, in 1966 and to round it out Kuban’s band at the time The Bob Kuban Brass performed there at the last game Oct. 2, 2005.

The photo shows Bob Kuban and the In-Men playing inside Busch Stadium II. (Photo from Metro St. Louis Live Music Historical Society)

He knew many of the players and was a big Cardinals fan. Red Schoendienst and Ozzie Smith were two of his favorites. Kuban was having his hey-day during Red Schoendienst’s time as Cardinals manager, and then years later in the 1980’s he played for the Cardinals during Ozzie Smith’s World Series runs.

“Bob Kuban was a big Cardinals fan,” said Colleen Schoendienst. “He was at the top of his career in the 1960’s with The Cheater being released in 1965 and then it became a big hit nationally in ’66. Dad became the manager of the Cardinals in ’65, so they were both there at the same time.”

Colleen Schoendienst, who had a career as a singer and has sang the National Anthem many times at Busch Stadium remembers Kuban for the happiness he brought people with his live music.

“He kept St. Louis going,” she said. “We used to go listen to his music every weekend. The happiness he brought to people with his music was incredible.  We’re going to miss him. So many memories.”

It was through his friendship with Cardinals’ marketing genius Marty Hendin that Kuban and his band played outside the stadium before many of the important games and also participated in numerous on-field ceremonies.

He was a fixture during the 1980’s Cardinals’ playoff runs. The band would be set up outside the gates and the Bob Kuban Brass would be the “pre-game rallies” back then. Fans would get to the games early so they could watch the band.

“The Bob Kuban Band played quite a few Opening Day and post season Cardinals games at both the old Busch and the current stadium,” said keyboard player Steve Hoover. “Bob was a big fan of the Cardinals and loved revving the crowd up with Celebration and getting them to dance to the Electric Slide.”

Hoover, who played for Kuban for almost 30 years has many fond memories of the band playing for the Cardinals.

“Bob would wear his red Cardinals jacket and ball cap and be a real cheerleader for Cardinal Nation,” he said. “Bob and the band loved those gigs. It was always great playing for the hometown team fans.”

Kuban’s nephew Chris Kuban remembered the red jacket too.

“He always wore that red Cardinals jacket,” he said. “And he became friends with some of the Cardinals including Ozzie Smith.”

Kuban especially enjoyed it when Stan Musial would join the band on his harmonica and lead the crowd in Take Me out to the Ballgame. The photo, left shows Musial and Kuban at a party the Cardinals put on during the 1987 World Series.

Kuban also performed at Baseball Writers’ Dinners and The Pinch-Hitters’ Ball-B-Que, an annual charity events put on by the Cardinals’ wives and wives of reporters who covered the team as well as other women involved in baseball.

Randy Tobler, who played trombone with the Bob Kuban Brass during the 1982 World Series year and during the Cardinals successful run in the 1980’s, is now a doctor in Columbia, and he does morning daily drive-time radio.

“We played for the baseball Cardinals and we also played for the Football Cardinals (now Arizona Cardinals), ” said Tobler. “I’ll never forget how cold it was playing outside when it was freezing. Our lips would be freezing so we would put our metal mouthpieces in our pockets to warm them up.”

“Bob was an absolute legend,” said Heliene Tobler, who works with her husband at their business, Body of Health Direct Primary Care in Columbia, Missouri. “Randy has shared a lot of stories with his radio audiences about that time. He grew up with Bob and started working with him in 1974.”

Randy Tobler was 15 when at his first job with the band one night when they needed a trombone player.

“That first job was at a beer hall in East St. Louis,” he said. “I was scared to death going over there. I was going to play for the great Bob Kuban!”

Kuban must have thought he did a great job because he continued using him part-time and then hired him in the 1970’s. Tobler would play on the Admiral and then go to Medical School and study during the day.

The photo taken on the Admiral, features, Back Row: Bob Kuban, Kevin Brocker, Dennis Smith and Randy Holmes; Front Row: Bob Bosch, Betsy Bircher, Frank Hloben, Joe Shadduck and Randy Tobler. (Tobler family photo) 

“Some of the best days of my life were playing for Bob Kuban while studying for my medical degree,” he said. “Bob’s reputation was stellar, and it was a real privilege to play for him.”

Kuban might be best remembered by St. Louisans of a certain age,  for his years playing on the S.S. Admiral riverboat.

Steve Radick played saxophone for Kuban during those times.

“He never worked from a song list,” said Radick. “You can’t make up a good song list because you don’t know how the crowd is going to react to it.”

The Admiral was a popular destination for St. Louisans of all ages. The boat which sailed the Mississippi River every day except Mondays; and Wednesday-Sunday nights, is a memory to many.

Tom Dunn who worked for Streckfus Steamers in Advertising and Marketing remembers when Kuban was hired.

“Parts of the 1960’s had been a bad time for the local music scene,” Dunn said remembering all the jitterbugging that was going on in the 1950’s. “They just stopped dancing together –and dressing up when they went out. Then in the 1970’s came a thing called ‘Disco’ which got the couples out on the dance floor and the ladies began wearing dresses and the men would wear suits.”

That was the background for when the Streckfus family hired Bob Kuban in 1973. Tom Dunn remembers how at first Captain Bill Streckfus had specific songs in specific orders for Kuban’s 14-piece band to play, but at the beginning Kuban felt he was too restricted by the strict set list.

“He went to Captain Bill and said, ‘Can you just let me pick the songs and read the crowd for one night? Just one night?’  So he did and the captain watched him from above. Kuban had the crowd going and it was obvious how much the crowd loved the music, so he said ‘It’s all yours Bob, you do what you want. You really know how to work a crowd.’”

During the time on the Admiral, it was packed on Friday and Saturday nights and they sold out with 4,000 people on the boat and the dance floor was so large  there could be 2,000 people dancing at once.

“Music was very important to the Streckfus family and they built their boats to accommodate music and dancing,” said Dunn who wrote a book about it all, called Admiral, shown left. “They wanted to hire the best band in St. Louis and that was Bob Kuban. The revival of dancing on the Admiral–all of its success– that was all Bob.”

He said Bob Kuban’s playing on the Admiral was beneficial to all.

“Bob loved it because it was a gig every night,” he said. “And the Captain loved it. The patrons loved it—who wouldn’t love getting to hear a 14-piece band play?”

Just before the pandemic Bill Streckfus–who was in his 80’s at the time– and Bob Kuban got together.

“We all went out to lunch,” said Dunn. “Bob got a chance to tell Bill how grateful he was that he got to play on the Admiral and other boats; and Bill got to tell him, ‘It was beneficial to both of us.’”

Bill Streckfus passed away at age 88 in 2021, but for many St. Louisans,  Streckfus Steamers and the Admiral will always be synonymous with Bob Kuban and the Bob Kuban bands.

“There will never be another Admiral and there will never be another Bob Kuban,” Dunn said.

After the Admiral stopped cruising the river, it did dry-dock parties.

“It was just like the night cruises, only the boat stayed in one place,” said Tom Dunn. “We still pulled in 4,000 people every night Bob Kuban played. They were coming to hear him and his band.”

In the years after the Admiral, there were two other boats the Bob Kuban band played on. There was the President which packed them in at about 2,000 people when they played and following that was the Belle of St. Louis which sold out at 1,500 on the weekends.

The graphic, left is the front of Bob Kuban Brass’ summer schedule from 1987. Besides his own band, Kuban owned Bob Kuban Entertainment where he booked other bands and acts for conventions and parties.

“I was with him for 33 years,” said Steve Radick. “He was very professional and could be strict at times, although he eased up as the years went by. A lot of guys put up with him being strict because he had an accountant and you knew your check would show up every Tuesday, which was not always the case in other bands.”

Just as when Captain Streckfus was looking for the best band in town, there was a time,  when anyone in St. Louis who wanted the best band, they would hire Kuban.

“He was the best in town because he hired the best musicians,” said Radick. “Everybody wanted to work for Bob. You knew you were going to get work with him. Sometimes we worked two jobs a day. We would work at the football Cardinals games and then afterwards head over to the riverboat.”

Kuban’s nephew Chris Kuban says he remembers going on the boats and watching his uncle play.

“I remember when I was young and my mom took me some of his band jobs,” he said. “I got to go on stage and hit the drums during intermissions.”

With the name Kuban, Chris said he was always being asked if he was related to his famous uncle.

“If we were in St. Louis they would say, ‘are you related to Bob Kuban?’” he said. “But if we were out of town and someone knew my name, they would ask me if I was related to Mark Cuban, even though it was spelled different. From the time I was a kid I always knew my uncle was special. My friends and I started collecting baseball cards. I would get a card of Ozzie Smith and Bob would get Ozzie to sign it. We always went to his house on Christmas, he had the fancy house.”

“One year he got us all Ozzie Smith’s book, “Wizard” for Christmas and he had him sign them.”

Along with all the many places the Bob Kuban band played he was always remembered for playing the CYC  “Teen Towns” dances in his early years.

“My older brother and sisters went to all the CYC dances growing up but I was too young,” said Nancy Rickert, a friend and personal assistant to Kuban for the past 23 years. “We would watch him play on the Admiral on Sundays. I remember him talking to my dad and me during the break back then,  and who could have known I would actually know him years later.”

“The CYC Teen Towns, splash parties and high-school hops were big,” said popular disc jockey Ron Elz, who was known as “Johnny Rabbit” at the time. “Bob seemed to have played them all. And of course, he became well-known for playing the Admiral and then the President.”

Big stars wanted to be associated with Kuban. For a time, Bob Kuban and the In-Men opened for Three Dog Night and other popular bands. He is shown in the photo, left, with The Righteous Brothers (Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield.)  They played with the Turtles in San Francisco and Otis Redding at Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood. The band also appeared on the television show Where the Action Is as well as American Bandstand.

Over the years, the band had various names, but Kuban’s band members were a loyal group, many playing with him for 40 years. This past week many were on a text chain and got to speak with him in the hospital.

“We were really was like a family,” said Steve Radick. “It was even a generational thing. Rick Zelle the keyboard player married Karen the lead female singer. They met in the band and are still married. Guitar player Jack Miller’s daughter joined the band. The night my daughter Mandy was born Bob came to the hospital and then years later she wound up singing for Bob.”

Joe Edwards, the owner of Blueberry Hill was friends with Kuban and Chuck Berry. In 1996 the story goes that Edwards was talking to Berry and had the idea to book him for concerts at Blueberry Hill.  According to Kuban, at the time, Berry wanted to have Kuban involved so Edwards got Kuban and Berry together for the monthly concerts which went on for five years. The photo shows Kuban at the drums behind Berry doing a concert at Blueberry Hill.

Kuban remained friends with Berry for the rest of his life and was at the unveiling of the statue of Chuck Berry, which is in the Delmar Loop in 2011.

Kuban continued booking jobs and playing in the band through his 70s and he never lost his energy or enthusiasm.

In 2015, Michele and John Carter hired The Bob Kuban Band to play at their son’s wedding.

This photo was from that night, courtesy of the Carter Family.

“We used to go on dates at the Admiral to listen to Bob,” said Michele Carter. “We always loved his music and then when we got married and had kids, we would take them to Faust Park every year to hear the Bob Kuban Band.”

The Carters moved into their house in 2003 and shortly after they moved in, she was on a walk and realized Kuban lived in her neighborhood, just one street away.

“I would see him at church every week,” she said. “He came by himself but would smile and talk to anyone who came up to him. He was always very nice to everyone.”

She hired him two years later for the Rainbows for Kids Gala in 2017 which had a “Gilligan’s Island” theme and he performed with Dawn Wells who played Mary Ann on the show. Dreama Denver, wife of the late Bob Denver who played Gilligan was there. Wells and Denver were impressed by the music and soon Dreama Denver out on the dance floor dancing to the Bob Kuban Band playing “September,” the popular song by Earth, Wind and Fire which was one of Kuban’s favorite groups over the years.

As Michele Carter mentioned, the Kuban band played at Faust Park for many years.

Gene Ackmann of Butch Wax and the Hollywoods and also Garden Party took this photo:

“A few years ago, after Bob had some health issues and was unable to play, I called him and invited him to come to our show at Faust Park to introduce us,” said Ackmann.

Ackmann could relate to Kuban as they were both band leaders and he knew what went into it.

“Bob had played at that park many times and had been the season opener for the concert series,” Ackmann said. “That night he came out to great applause as he was received by the concert goers and was an honor to have him introduce us.”

St. Louis sportscaster Frank Cusumano was the emcee for the Gilligan’s Island charity fundraiser and he posed with Kuban, and Rains (in Gilligan’s Island attire).

Kuban was still going strong in 2018 when the popular DiGregorio’s on the Hill celebrated their 45^th Anniversary and Kuban’s band was selected for the celebration.  Photographer Bill Motchan was there and mentioned Kuban’s “energy, mastery of the drums and his full head of hair” in an article he wrote.

“I remember that event quite well,” Motchan said. “ I had just retired a few months earlier from AT&T and I started doing freelance writing and photography so I went to the street festival that started around noon celebrating DiGregorio’s 45th anniversary on The Hill.

“I knew Bob Kuban would be playing, and I remembered his two big hits, The Cheater and The Teaser from when I was a teenager growing up in U. City,” said Motchan. “I remember that night his voice was strong and his drumming tight that day. It was really impressive to see him at age 77 singing and drumming and having a great time.”

The photo, right, taken by Bill Motchan is: Frank Goessler, Steve Radick, Joe Shadduck, Bob Kuban, Steve Hoover.

Kuban was always known for his energy. In his younger days he was a runner and took daily runs. He had been compared with Dick Clark for his youthful appearance over the years and he had actually appeared on “American Bandstand” during The Cheater days.

According to IMDb, American Bandstand episode 9.34 which aired April 30, 1966, featured Jackie DeShannon singing Come and Get Me and What the World Needs Now Is Love along with Bob Kuban and The In-Men performing The Teaser and The Cheater. (listed in that order). There was also a telephone interview with Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys on that show.

Bob Kuban and the In-Men was formed in 1964. Kuban played drums and was musical director. The band featured vocalist Walter Scott and was an eight-piece band with brass.  In the band’s early years,  along with performing Kuban also taught music at Bishop Dubourg High School in St. Louis.

Disc jockey Casey Van Allen, who now owns a radio station at the Lake of the Ozarks, remembers Kuban calling him once at the radio station.

“I played his music when I was a DJ at KXOK from 1969 to 1978,” said Van Allen. “He called the request line when I was on the air and asked me to tell everybody, he was playing at the Berkeley City Park inside the tennis courts. He wanted me to promote it when I played his record, and I did.”

Randy Raley, long-time radio host remembers playing Kuban’s music on the radio also

“I was the first host of Route 66 on KMOX,” said Raley. “ I played The Cheater many times on that show. Made it a habit to do that.”

Ron Elz became the long-time host of “Route 66″ on KMOX. He had been a popular disc jockey with his “Johnny Rabbit” persona on KXOK in the 1960’s and ‘70’s.“Bob’s big year was 1966,” said Elz. “His single, The Cheater, was released on Jan. 29^th that year and it got to  number 12 in Billboard, and it was played most heavily here on KXOK. It’s rare that a locally owned St. Louis label, in this case Musicland USA, would have a national hit. People stopped thinking about Bob as a Bishop Dubourg high-school teacher.”

The Cheater  written by John Krenski, was recorded in St. Louis on the Musicland label, which was owned by Mel Friedman, the group’s manager at the time. While it made it to #12 on the Billboard charts and earned a gold record in the process in the U.S., it did earn higher spots in Australia and Canada, making it an international hit.

“He had two other songs on Billboard in ’66,” said Elz, “But they were not hits. The songs were The Teaser that stopped at number 70 and then the Beatles song Drive My Car that only made it to  number 93, The eight-member group’s full name at the time was Bob Kuban & The In-Men with Walter Scott. 

“He was always great to interview and work with,” said Elz. “He was able to keep performing for decades, later as the Bob Kuban Brass. He helped put St. Louis on the nation’s music map.”

Speaking of putting St. Louis on the music map, one of Kuban’s biggest musical influences was the group Ike and Tina Turner, who he watched perform at the Club Imperial in St. Louis. At that time, he said he never could have imagined that in the near future he would be performing there and actually  know and perform with Ike and Tina Turner.

In the 1980’s Kuban did a local television show called “Spotlight on Entertainment.” He did it at Storer Cable as part of their local origination cable content and many of the big names from St. Louis were guests on his show, such as Chuck Berry and his daughter Ingrid Berry.

Kuban’s bands performed at some of the biggest events in the St. Louis area including the Fleur di Lis Ball and they even played for the St. Louis Rams during their Superbowl run.

“The thing I appreciated was what a consummate professional he was and what a crowd pleaser he was,” said Randy Tobler. “Whoever the star of the show was, whether it was a debutante or a bride—he would make sure they felt special.

“Most bands used the folders they got at Mel Bay to hold the music for the musicians. Bob had these big binders, and he would have the pages of the songs in them, which made it easier for the band to flip through.”

He had band members who were with him for many years and his  friends were important to him. He is shown in the photo, right, with long-time companion Juanita Wheeler at a wedding he played.

Kuban was effervescent with ideas, never resting on his fame and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the area of “One-Hit Wonders.”

When asked if he felt the term “one-hit wonder” was a put-down he said, “There are a million groups out there that are no-hit wonders.”

He was always very proud of the honor.

He came up with innovative ideas for parties, such as singles nights held at the old Viking Hotel bar. He even patented an invention–the “Kue Lights”– which were a type of lights that could be used on airplanes to help lead passengers to safety if the lights were to go out. He had a warehouse in Troy, Missouri.

According to Elz, for a short time in the 1980s he was the KMOX music director, which was an honorary term.

Also in the 1980’s the Bob Kuban Brass came out with a local song called Everybody Gonna Have a Party, which he hoped would become a national hit.

“I think it’s got the ‘hook’ to be big,” he said at the time. Local radio stations played the song and in fact one oldies station that did “Smash or Trash” played it and the callers deemed it a “smash” hit.

In the 1990’s Kuban decided to get more into corporate events and combined with a writer to do promotional pieces and he was very successful at the corporate events

In 2006 he wrote the book My Side of the Bandstand, with author Nancy Wenger where he told his life story. Paired with his story were the recollections of friends, family, and fans who recall the times that helped shape their youth.

Kuban stayed relevant as a band leader until he entered his 80’s. In 2018, his trumpet player, Frank Goessler, who had played with the band since 1978, passed away and that hit him hard as Goessler was a long-time band member and friend.

“Frank wrote the charts for him,” said Steve Raddick. “Frank was one of the most prolific chart writers in town and here he was playing for Bob. Often Bob would hear a song  on the radio and say, ‘could you do a chart on it Frank?’ and Frank would do the chart. Then other bands heard it and asked Frank if they could buy it. Frank was great at that. Steve Hoover also started doing charts for Bob.”

He transitioned from playing drums to directing the bands, including this night at the 2018 Fleur de Lis Ball, in this photo by photographer, Diane Anderson.

In the last few years the band morphed into the Bob Kuban Orchestra, with Kuban still being involved in more of a conductor capacity; and recently the Bob Kuban Orchestra directed by Steve Hoover, which is already booked for next year’s Fleur de Lis Ball.

According to Nancy Rickert, Kuban was still playing the drums until the pandemic. She sold his cds at jobs, helped organize mailings and has worked for him since 2002.

“He was a lot of fun,” she said. “We worked together for his business putting labels and stamps on his flyers and mailing them. After his stroke, I ended up staying on and helping him.”

Tom Dunn from the Admiral recalled a funny story Kuban told him.

“I asked him if playing the drums was physically demanding and he said yes,” Dunn remembered. “He told me once he was to have surgery and the doctor said ‘I’ve never seen anybody with so many muscles in his back’ and it was all due to the muscles he used while playing the drums for all those years.”

In 1983 there was a scandal involving the murder of  40-year old Walter Scott, who had been the lead singer for Bob Kuban and the In-Men, and whose given name was Walter Simon Notheis Jr. Bob Kuban stayed loyal to his parents Walter and Kay Notheis and supported them throughout the ordeal.

Kuban was born in 1940 and was always proud to tell anybody who would listen that his dad, Marion Kuban worked for Pevely Dairy as a milkman. His mom Dorothy Kuban was a secretary and at-home typist who earned one cent per label she typed.

He was one of three children including his brother, the late Larry Kuban, who is Chris Kuban’s dad, and his sister Donna Kuban.

“Our family was important to him,” said Chris Kuban. “Bob was always doing interesting things, going to Las Vegas and all. He was definitely the ‘fun uncle.’”

When Colleen Schoendienst heard Kuban had passed away, she said “I’m so sorry to hear that, he made so many people happy.”

Kuban’s sax player Steve Radick summed it up: “Bob Kuban is always going to be remembered in St. Louis because he was such an icon. He could read a crowd better than anybody. If you were of a certain age, Bob Kuban was ‘it.’ I was blessed to work for him all these years, and I’ll never forget him.”

Bob Kuban is survived by family including sister Madonna “Donna” Kuban; late brother, Larry Kuban and sister-in-law Mary [Schuermann] Kuban; granddaughter Finnley Hope; great grandchildren Stella Hope and Edison Drier; and nieces and nephews, Andrea (Hoeferlin) Winslett, Derek Hoeferlin, Chris Kuban, Bryan Kuban, Kelly (Kuban) Mitchell. He is also survived by his long-time special friend Juanita Wheeler and his personal assistant and friend Nancy Rickert, and the many fans who loved him.

Funeral Arrangements:Visitation at Kutis Affton Chapel (10151 Gravois Road Affton, Missouri 63123) Wednesday, January 29, 2:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.  Funeral Mass will be celebrated to Ascension Catholic Church (230 Santa Maria Drive Chesterfield, Missouri 63055) Thursday, January 30, 10:00 a.m.  Private interment at Resurrection Cemetery.

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Photos credits: Rains family photos: Bob Kuban, Frank Cusumano, Rob Rains at event, Juanita Wheeler and Bob Kuban; Nancy Rickert or Bob Kuban Facebook page supplied photos unless otherwise noted.

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