Residents of Mountain Home may not know Don Kubitschek by name or face, but they would know if they saw his truck.

His 1985 Mazda pickup truck is painted Bronco Blue with a bronco on the hood and sidelines numbers on the side.

Visitors to his garage are welcomed by a piece of Boise State's original famed turf.

"I have a vested interest in BSU," Kubitschek said.

His interest dates back in to the early 70s, well before Boise State's recent success.

"Though were tough times," Kubitschek said. "Back then, everything was UI, Boise State was dirt under your shoes."

When he first started selling booster club memberships, there were three levels. The lowest level of membership cost $15. Kubitschek said most people would ask him, "Why would I want to give $15 to BSU?" when he first started.

"Now they have risen, they are on top of the hill and with good leadership, they should stay there," Kubitschek said.

"It is so gratifying to see the transition," he said, "having personally and physically experienced the transition."

Kubitschek said he took a liking to the program when he first moved to Mountain Home but he didn't like the anti-BSU attitude many people in town had.

He asked BSU if he could sell booster club memberships in 1971 and sold 25-30 of them. He then asked if he could sell season tickets and sold a number of them, including 45 to Mountain Home Air Force Base.

He was named the booster club member of the year, an award he picked up at halftime on a green field. Later he became the booster club director for six years.

Kubitschek moved to Mountain Home after getting his degree from Black Hills State University in South Dakota.

He had been working for the Wyoming Department of Engineer and quit his job, days after getting a raise, and enrolled in college on a wild hair.

He chose Black Hills State because it was close by and he knew he could get a teaching degree and a job.

He wanted to teach because he wanted to work with kids and coach and above all, help kids reach their potential.

Kubitschek has always felt he was a gifted athlete but he never had anyone push or challenge him to reach his full potential.

Kubitschek taught PE and social studies in Mountain Home for 24 years before retiring in 1996. He also coached football and basketball up to the junior high level.

Kubitschek enjoyed coaching not only because he got to work with student athletes but because it filled his need to always be doing something.

Even today, 12 years into retirement, Kubitschek remains active. He rides his bike and takes walks with his wife and one of his daughters, refusing to use a treadmill.

"It doesn't go anywhere, I got to go somewhere," he said.

Apparently, he has to get there faster than his wife or daughter who constantly tell him he walks to fast.

Walking fast is consistent with Kubitschek's teaching philosophy.

"The most important thing was when they are though with your class, there better be sweat on their brow. They know they've been through a workout," he said.

He believed students interested in sports/activities would carry on and seek out further instructions on their own, so for him, teaching specific skills wasn't as important as teaching physical and mental toughness.

Kubitschek remembers several times when students got banged up during a game in his class. He would walk with them to the sidelines and give them the option of sitting out the rest of the class period or returning when they felt ready.

He said most of the time students, including girls roughed up in coed games, would immediately return to the game.

"They thought it was cool," he said. "It was kind of like life. There's some tough punches out there and you have to take them and roll on."

Kubitschek adopted his philosophy from the teacher he student taught with.

A commitment to hard work wasn't the only thing Kubitschek had in common with his instructor.

Both had served time in the Marines. Kubitschek credits his three-year enlistment with the Marines for turning him around and teaching him accountability.

"For the first three weeks, I lied awake wondering, 'what have I done?' But I couldn't get out of it, that was the beauty of it. I did it, I was accountable for that decision for three years."

Kubitschek said his job, "to do whatever I was told whenever I was told however I was told."

Today Kubitschek looks back on his time in the Marines and doesn't regret any of it.

"I look back and say, I'm glad I did that," he said.

He admits he would have liked to make a career out of the Marines, where everyone is accountable for their actions.

Instead, he made a career out of teaching students to be accountable for their actions.