Bob Kummer routinely arrived a half-hour before Batavia boys tennis practices this season.

After devoting almost four decades to growing the sport in the community as an ambassador and coach, the father of Bulldogs tennis decided he’d finally take a few hours for himself.

As long as his drill and workout schedules were ready – and those who know Kummer knew that was a formality – Kummer sat and pondered his career. The Kane County Chronicle Boys Tennis Coach of the Year compiled records for every player he ever handed a sleeve of Penns or Wilsons. Sifting through memories, he worked to recall each one.

A 43-year member of the school’s English department, Kummer is set to administer his last final exams today and work his final teacher in-service day Thursday. He and many close to him have known of his impending retirement for years, but that hasn’t sliced a second from their reminiscing.

“It would just come sporadically, a little at different turns,” Kummer said. “I’d just sit back and think about things like that, put it all in a tennis perspective.”

St. Charles North coach Sean Masoncup lobbied for Kummer’s Kane County Chronicle Coach of the Year candidacy even before the Bulldogs edged the North Stars, among others, for the Upstate Eight Conference River Division title last month.

Masoncup, Kummer and the rest of their brethren were deliberating about how to manage a weekend weather delay during the conference tournament when Masoncup traipsed down memory lane.

He toted the same story last week, appearing among a panel of surprise guests at the Bulldogs’ year-end banquet to help commemorate “43 Years of Bob.”

Then a newly graduated Geneva senior, Masoncup recalled the afternoon in 1997 when he received a letter in the mail from Kummer. The crux: Kummer enjoyed the way Masoncup played for four years on the Vikings’ varsity and wished him well in college. Masoncup kept the correspondence in his tennis bag throughout his Western Illinois career and has the letter to this day.

“Anybody that’s been around as long as Bob has, there’s no way I would miss that banquet,” Masoncup said. “I was honored to do it. There’s no doubt in my mind that he deserves everything he has. That’s one lucky community to have had him.”

Kummer played tennis for four seasons at Ottawa High School but focused only on his studies at Illinois State. After college, he and his wife, Loretta, embraced the recreational tennis boom of the 1970s and ’80s, paving the way for Kummer to begin the girls and boys tennis programs at Batavia in the 1977-78 school year.

He coached the varsity and freshman-sophomore teams without assistants for the first 10 seasons while remaining active in Batavia’s summer tennis program. In recent summers, health and family issues have kept Kummer from his preferred level of offseason involvement.

As a result, Kummer decided four years ago that the 2011-12 school year would be his last. Incidentally, the timetable overlapped with the career of singles standout Josh Cogan, the winningest Bulldog in school history and four-time Chronicle Player of the Year.

After securing the No. 1 singles title at the conference tournament last month, Cogan urged the rest of his teammates to cheer ongoing Batavia matches as Kummer made the rounds from court to court. The winner came down to the final results in the back-draw. As Kummer did the math and realized Batavia had won the UEC River championship on its home courts, he was brought to tears.

“He never gives up and he wants to win more than any other guy out there that I’ve ever seen, and he’s so passionate about the game,” Cogan said. “He loves every player. Every guy on the team has the deepest respect for him.”

As last week’s banquet concluded, players and parents indulged in congratulatory cake. There were a few slices left when Kummer finally carved out two – the first for Loretta, the second for him.

Grabbing the plate that held his treat, Kummer watched a speck of icing tumble off the side and onto his clothing.

“What did I do?” he laughed to Loretta.

Several hundred Bulldogs past and present would jump at the chance to answer. On most afternoons this season, Kummer spent time thinking about them, too.