Search  CIP Home  UD Home

Spotlights Horst Maczuga ‘70 Dayton Educator, Spring 2008 Fulbright and football In Wellington, New Zealand, of all places, there’s a trophy named Horst Maczuga—the Maczuga Capitol Bowl Cup—given each year to the champions of an American-style football league he helped to establish in 1990. He’s also gotten a Fulbright scholarship, taught for years at the New Zealand Royal Police College and is now a consultant. Not bad for someone who had to repeat first grade because, as a young immigrant to Sandusky, Ohio, he couldn’t speak English. Someone who struggled in school and had to talk his way into UD. “It is amazing what life has in store for us as we walk this journey,” he said. “It’s an American dream.” Of course, it’s a dream he’s living in New Zealand—which was not even a thought when he began teaching and coaching at Toledo’s Waite High School in 1970. New Zealand was a happy accident, his assigned country in the Fulbright teacher exchange program in 1975. He’d been hoping for his native Germany. “I’d never even heard of New Zealand,” he said. He found a “beautiful, beautiful little country.” He met and married his wife and eventually settled there. Maczuga said his studies at UD, where social studies were his teaching area, and his early experience at Toledo as a human relations instructor and mediator in an era of racial tension set him up perfectly for the police college—training officers in a country where the police are not armed. “We emphasize using your mouth when you do get into a situation,” he said. Maczuga, 60, retired last June after 22 years. He now runs Horst Maczuga seminars, offering instruction in interviewing and dealing with difficult people. He also consults with the police and with the aviation authority, teaching them how to spot deceptive behavior. He plays golf, presents the Maczuga cup each year and hosts an annual Super Bowl party. Life could hardly be better: “I’m still productive. I’m still making money, but yet I can call the shots now…That’s a great feeling.” —Vince McKelvey ‘72 —Deborah McCarty Smith

Center for International Programs · University of Dayton · 300 College Park · Dayton, OH 45469-0315 Telephone: (937) 229-3514 Questions and comments: Webmaster