Many moons ago the 74-year-old, soon to be 75, Ronald Prchal was given the nickname “Chubby” or “Chubs” by his father. “Between sixth and seventh grade I grew nine inches and 60 pounds,” said Chubby. “I got the nickname from my dad.”
Even his friends Wendy Vargo and Bob Krocak agree, no one knows him by his given name. “If you said Ron Prchal, people would ask you if he was related to Chubby,” laughed Krocak. Chubby’s younger brother, Ralph Prchal, said, “He used to be chubby, and now he’s not. He’s the skinniest of anyone (from his friends and family).”
Chubby’s background
Chubby is a native of Montgomery, graduating from Montgomery-Lonsdale High School in 1968. He went on to attend college at the then Mankato State University and graduated with a degree in business in 1972. Over the course of college, he worked at Green Giant in Montgomery, and was mentored in working for Reak Sanitation by Leo Reak. It was at college where he also met his wife, Linda Prchal. The couple lived in Fairmont while Chubs worked for Cargill.
His job with Cargill would soon take him to the Indianapolis, Ind., area in 1978 where he would call home thereafter. Chubby would not stay with Cargill long. Chubby decided that the “corporate world wasn’t for him” and that he “didn’t want to work for someone else.”
Chubs left his job at Cargill and opened his own business in 1980 in the sanitation business, taking the knowledge with him he learned from Reak. “At first I bought one truck and then more, doing hauling for 10 years,” said Chubs. He sold the hauling equipment from his business, and then focused on a different path selling the routes and equipment for sanitation, business-to-business.
The twice father and three times grandfather, doesn’t like to sit still. Ralph Prchal said, “He’s very involved.”
Czech heritage is very important to Chubby. “He’s got a strong connection with the Czech heritage,” said Ralph Prchal. “Every year he comes back to get jiternice, the locker plant recipe, from Edel’s and kolacky from Franke’s. He’s also very active riding his bike and going to spin classes.”
Cancer diagnosis
However, after being diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer in March of 2023, Chubby had a choice to make — let cancer win or fight it.
“I can’t quit. I don’t have the quit gene in me,” said Chubby. “You can’t quit, because when you quit, you die. You turn the battle into a challenge. I am living today. What do I want to accomplish today. When that day is over, you start over the next day. I have cancer. You have nothing, but you could get hit by a truck tonight and you’d be dead but I wouldn’t, so don’t quite.”