The MHHS Athletic Hall of Honor’s Class of 2023 will include an alumnus turned employee of the Mountain Home School District. Ron Czanstkowski will be enshrined Saturday as part of homecoming week.
Czanstkowski’s family moved to Mountain Home from Illinois in August of 1978, right before his sixth grade year began. While he played football for the Bombers, the baseball diamond is where he shone. Czanstkowski was a three-time All-Conference selection, two-time All-State team member and a member of the All-Arkansas High School Baseball Team during his senior year. He says it was a joy playing for Coach Don Webb on the high school team and for Lester White in the American Legion program.
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Czanstkowski went on to attend North Arkansas College in Harrison for two years. He later transferred to Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville. During his senior season as a Bearcat, he was named first team All-Conference, the conference’s Co-MVP and first team All-Region. Czanstkowski says in addition to the coaches, the athletes he played with in Mountain Home helped prepare him for the next level.
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Czanstkowski went on to begin his coaching career in 1987 with Mountain Home’s American Legion junior team. While coaching the team, currently known as MacLeod, he also assisted with the Lockeroom senior team through 1994. Czanstkowski also became an assistant coach under Webb for the high school program in 1991, and the Bombers finished as state runners-up that season.
Czanstkowski was promoted to head coach following Webb’s retirement in 1995, and during his second year at the helm of the high school program, he led Mountain Home to its first state baseball championship. The Bombers also became the top-ranked team among all classifications in Arkansas, and Czanstkowski was named the state’s coach of the year.
Czanstkowski has also been recognized as a leader in the classroom. He was a full-time mathematics teacher while coaching baseball, and he won the district’s Teacher of the Year award in 1997.
Czanstkowski continues to serve in Mountain Home Public Schools as its students services director. He says he considers it a blessing and a privilege to serve in the district where he flourished as an athlete.
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Czanstkowski will be honored during the MHHS Athletic Hall of Honor Banquet Saturday in the high school cafeteria. The reception begins at noon, and the banquet and lunch will be an hour later. For tickets, contact the Mountain Home athletic office at 870-425-1285.
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