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He died Tuesday while indulging in both passions.
The body of Slaback, 63, of Dakota, Minn., was recovered about 10 a.m. today in the 44-degree Mississippi River near the Wisconsin shoreline, about 2 miles downstream from where his airboat sank Tuesday evening.
La Crosse County Medical Examiner John Steers ruled the death a drowning.
Friends and family described Slaback as skilled in the outdoors and in the kitchen, a former auto racer at the La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway and an entrepreneur who developed a tire-shredding company and basement waterproofing system.
“There was nothing he could not do. Anything he set out to do, he did it,” said Jim Allen, 65, of La Crosse, a friend of Slaback’s for half a century.
Slaback was better known as “Toey,” though neither Allen nor younger brother Jim Slaback of Onalaska, Wis., could say how he acquired the childhood nickname.
Slaback grew up on La Crosse’s North Side, where his father, Sam, opened Sam’s Bar, 2116 George St., about 50 years ago, Allen said. Slaback still visited the bar and helped with the game feed and fish fry, Jim Slaback said.
“Everyone knew him,” he said. “He just was so kind to everybody.”
Slaback and wife Lois lived in Dakota for about 25 years, owning both a house on the bluffs and a riverside cabin.
“He loved to cook for friends and loved hosting, on the water and up above,” Allen said. “He loved a good time, there was no doubt about that.”
Slaback had two sons, Dirk, of the La Crosse area, and David, who lives in Canada.
Tuesday, Slaback and nephews Mike and Bill Hansen were returning from duck hunting when two large waves caused by strong winds swamped their boat near Dakota, said Winona County Sheriff Dave Brand.
The nephews were able to swim to shore. A 3-year-old black Labrador retriever, Sara, and the boat have not been found.
The trio had been hunting all Tuesday and didn’t realize the dangerous wind-whipped, choppy conditions on the river until confronted by the waves, Allen said. The boat was not equipped for large waves.
“It’s amazing they (the nephews) survived this ordeal,” Allen said.
Allen first heard Slaback was missing early today, he said, when friends called after reading the Tribune.
“My first reaction was he was a survivor, I figured they’d find him on an island,” Allen said.
More than 50 members of rescue crews and law enforcement from Winona, La Crosse and Houston counties aided in the search, working into the early morning hours before breaking until 8 a.m. today.
It was the eighth drowning death in Winona County this year, an unusually high number, Brand said.
Three people drowned in mid-August after heavy rains triggered widespread flooding in the region. In May, four people from St. Paul perished when their boat capsized at the foot of Lock and Dam No. 7 in Dresbach. The bodies of the woman, her fiancé and her daughter were found, but crews continue to search periodically for the woman’s son, 10-year-old Joshua Xiong, Brand said.
Tribune reporter Autumn Grooms contributed to his report. Anne Jungen can be reached at (608) 791-8224 or ajungen@lacrossetribune.com.
