Tony A. Novak, 78

Tony Novak has fought his last bout and now rides off into the sunset.

Tony was born in 1944 to Opal and Edward Novak.

Tony was preceded in death by his parents, brother Dwane, and former spouse Sharon Barrett. Tony is survived by his children Annette, Ray (Sara), Maria (Dave), Lisa, Candice (Ted) and Nikki (Josh), his sister Jolene (Scott), brother Buddy (Geri), sister-in-law Doreen and numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews, as well as his longtime faithful friend and partner Kathy Salcedo.

In his younger years, Tony was an avid athlete and boxer and a loyal friend to the fellow members of his motorcycle club. In 2013 Tony was inducted into the Great Plains Amateur Boxing Hall of Fame and in 2015 to the Omaha Amateur Coaches Association Hall of Fame in recognition of his achievements in the ring and support of boxing. In 2017 Tony was named outstanding boxing alumni at the Rambler Rumble for his support of youth in the boxing community. After he retired as a truck driver and proud member of the Teamsters Union, much of Tony's time was spent attending events and activities of his grandchildren. Tony was particularly proud of watching hundreds of wrestling matches of his grandson Isaac in his route to becoming a four-time State wrestling champion. Tony's love of his family and commitment to his grandchildren was shown by numerous little things such as arranging his kidney dialysis schedule so that he could keep his grandson Vinny company while he also underwent dialysis until Vinny received a transplant.

Tony's daily calls to his family members to simply say "I love you" will be greatly missed.