Grillmaster, guitar-player… child movie star?
It’s 9:57 a.m. and rain is splattering against his blue tarp. All the same, there stands Bob, hat on his head and dogs on his grill. Born in Poland as Bogdan Izdebski, Bob took on his famous moniker after coming to Canada at age 28, and set up shop on Guelph’s campus 20 years ago.
I asked Bob how many interviews he has done with The Ontarion over those decades and learned that this would be his 40th or 50th. Still, he greets me and shakes my hand with a smile on his face. Prior to his arrival at our university, Bob had spent six years of his time in Canada working at a factory. Upon the suggestion of a friend, he then came to Guelph. When I ask him if he has enjoyed that decision so far, he answers: “Oh yeah, especially because of the campus here.”
“What makes the University of Guelph so special?” I implore further.
“You guys. All of [the] students,” he replied.
“You’re not sick of us after 20 years?”
“Oh no, man, no. It’s the biggest part of my life, and I love it, and I love people around me here. Really.”
I can’t help but feel my heart warm. Bob’s love for the students he serves couldn’t be more obvious.
“I have lots of friends, they come, we play guitar, we sing a song, y’know, it’s amazing guys. I just really love it,” he mused.
At one point in the interview he brings me inside his little cabin, the walls plastered with photos of him and hundreds of other smiling faces. He points to an Ontarion article he was featured in. It is one of the few of those 50 he has been able to find the space to put up. It recounts when a group of students pitched together to gift him an engraved guitar.
“The biggest paycheque of my life.”
Perhaps it should come as no surprise that Bob is so effortlessly charismatic; at age three, Bogdan Izdebski took his first acting role. He would stay in the business until leaving Poland at almost 29 years old.
“Were you a bit of movie star back home?” I ask him.
He sighs.“Maybe not movie star. Kind of.”
He recounts how, from early childhood, he acted on TV, and that at age nine, he did in fact get a role on the big screen. He would go on to star in movies from both his home country and its neighbour Germany. I had to know if he would have continued, had he never immigrated.
“I believe so, yeah,” he responds. I think this makes me sadder than it does him.
He tells a story of the one time he almost had a shot at the big ticket, right here in Canada. Apparently his phone rang for six hours while he wasn’t around. I’ll give you one guess as to where he was when he missed it.
Of course, I also wanted to know about Bob’s famous dogs.
“What type of hot dogs do you use here?”
“It’s a little family company from Toronto, and they’re actually from Russia.” Even in his choice of dog, Bob’s love shines through. He explains that the hot dogs are 100 per cent beef, the sausages a pork and beef mix, and the veggie dogs soy protein and, well, vegetables. He also uses that same company for most of his condiments.
“When you make yourself a hot dog, what do you put on it?” I ask him.
“Oh, I put everything, man. It’s just switch, every day different things […]. You can believe or not, I eat my hot dogs 20 years, every single day I’ve been on campus.”
I couldn’t imagine a better testament to the quality of Bob’s Dogs, and nothing sums up Bob himself better than his next answer.
“What makes Bob’s Dogs the best dogs on campus?”
“Students.”
Photos by Alora Griffiths