June 28,1998: Coach Howard Patthoff and the 1965 Sports Banquet
- Nancy McArtor
- Jan 17
- 1 min read
Updated: Jan 21
Not every one of our classmates had a dad who was a popular coach at AAHS—in fact, I can think of only one—but John Patthoff did. His father was Howard Patthoff, a champion gymnast in his own right at Indiana University who was behind the rebirth of gymnastics at AAHS and led the team to the State Championship in 1965. Class members on that team were Dave Colwell, Steve Crosswait, Stu Nelson, Don Portman, Bill van den Broek, and John Walton.
Coach Patthoff had a notable teaching and coaching career, including holding the Department Chair of Physical Education at AAHS for 17 years, from 1960 to 1977.
There are also some interesting sidelights to his life. As a teenager, he lived through the Second Johnstown Flood of 1936. And during retirement, he operated the scoreboard for all the Michigan home football games, a nice gig for the big Wolverines fan he was.
Coach Patthoff was at the lectern for the 1965 All-Sports Banquet, when outstanding athletes from the Class of '65 were honored for their achievements in 11 sports.
You can view Coach Patthoff's obituary here.
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