Ric earned his bachelor’s in civil engineering from UNO in 1980 and his master’s from UNL in 1985. He became a registered professional engineer in Nebraska in 1984. He worked for Wells Engineers Inc. in Omaha from 1979 to 1986, contributing to civil engineering projects including bridges, water/wastewater treatment and industrial meat packing.
He spent the next 30 years with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Omaha, focusing on environmental design, construction and management of hazardous, toxic and radioactive waste site cleanups for the military, EPA and Department of Energy. He retired in January 2016.
Ric’s lifetime sports activities include football, baseball, hockey, wrestling, swimming, gymnastics, track, running, tennis, squash, platform tennis, softball (fast/slow pitch), bicycling and pickleball (seven days a week). He played junior ice hockey (1971–73) at Aksarben and for UNO’s club team (1974–75) under coach Mike Kemp—20 years before UNO established Division I hockey.
He was a USPTA P1 teaching pro (1977–2016), a professional racquet stringer (1973–2015) and a Master Racquet Technician with the US Racquet Stringers Association (1995–2015).
Ric is an avid recumbent touring bicyclist, having ridden cross-country (San Diego to Charleston) for Special Olympics Nebraska in 2016, and twice around Nebraska’s border (2017 and 2018). He’s completed rides in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming, logging more than 38,000 miles since 2006.
He married Jane Zukaitis in 1980. They have two children and three grandchildren.
