Bill Khan
Sports Scene
It’s natural to say nice things about people once they’ve passed on.
Jack Pratt was different.
Everyone who came in contact with him knew they were in the presence of greatness, and not necessarily for all of the wins and championships that made him a Hall of Fame coach.
Many eloquent eulogies to Pratt have been uttered since the legendary coach passed away at the age of 84 on Sept.ember 24. But throughout my career covering high school sports in the Flint area, I heard many of those words uttered while he was still alive and active as a football and basketball coach.
One story that indicated how much his players revered him was told to me about 20 years ago, shortly after he left Kearsley to coach football at rival Powers Catholic.
I got into a conversation with a Kearsley parent at a hockey game when the topic switched to Pratt’s recent career switch. It would be understandable if folks at Kearsley held a grudge against a coach who left to coach at a fierce rival, particularly private school Powers, which is a hot-button issue in the Flint area.
This parent had several recent Kearsley football players over to his house when he made the mistake of suggesting that Pratt was a Benedict Arnold for leaving the Hornets for the hated Chargers.
He almost had a fight on his hands for making such an insinuation. Those players, all proud Kearsley Hornets through and through, had Pratt’s back on this one. They felt blessed to have played for him. None of his former players had a bad word to say about him, even under those circumstances.
Kearsley’s program, incidentally, went into a tailspin after Pratt left following a 10-1 1998 campaign, and managed only two winning seasons since then. Pratt built a struggling Powers program into a perennial playoff qualifier, winning a state championship in 2005.
During that 2005 playoff run, I wrote an extensive profile on Pratt as a preview to the state Division 4 championship game against Grand Rapids Catholic Central.
Pratt was always willing to take the time to talk with reporters about his teams. He was always cordial and always thanked me for taking the time to talk with him, even after tough losses.
For this particular feature, he wasn’t as eager to talk. After all, his least favorite subject was himself. Trying to get him to talk about his career accomplishments was like pulling teeth. He said he was “a small part of the overall program.”
Everyone else begged to differ.
“He deserves it more than any of us,” senior receiver Tony Poma said after a victory in the state semifinals earned the Chargers a trip to Ford Field.
Despite all of Pratt’s considerable accomplishments, including an area-record 304 victories, it was his only trip to a state championship football game.
But that’s just football. Pratt meant so much more than X’s and O’s, W’s and L’s to the people whose lives he touched.
His wife, Mary Ellen, summed it up best when she told me following that 2005 state semifinal victory: “He really puts other people first. If he had one shirt on his back and a person needed it, he would give it to them.”
By that point in his career, everyone realized they were watching a living legend when Pratt worked the sidelines in his trademark gaudy pants — bright yellow at Kearsley, bright orange at Powers.
He coached three generations of players, beginning at old Flint St. Matthew in 1958. He moved to Grand Blanc in 1970 following the closing of St. Matthew, had a brief stint as an assistant Powers, then began resurrecting the Kearsley program in 1980.
Pratt coached his final game in 2006 at the age of 78. His body was obviously weakened by age, as he was often escorted off the field on a golf cart, but his enthusiasm and ability to motivate young people never waned.
There have been coaches come through the Flint area who have been better at X’s and O’s than Pratt, but none who could motivate and inspire like he could. He had very few players go on to play big-time college football, yet he piled up the victories and championships. Some of his best players were, like him, undersized but full of heart. The All-Stater on that 2005 championship team was Justin Ward, a 5’8″, 165-pound nose tackle who never played a down of college football.
“He knows how to get the best out of his players,” 2005 quarterback Spencer Hickoff said. “That’s what a good coach does, getting the most potential out of each and every player. Every day he says we’ve got to be believers. We knew we could do it; we just have to believe.”
The list of players that Pratt coached included a who’s who of Flint-area high school football players. Some played college ball, some were just great high school players who didn’t have the physical attributes to move on. More impressive, however, is the list of players Pratt coached who have gone on to be leaders in this community and great family men. His influence went well beyond winning games.
One of the great moments in Pratt’s career that was brought up following his death was his 1994 Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame induction speech. I was there for a speech that was recalled by judge Duncan Beagle in an interview with The Flint Journal.
“He got up there and talked about he wasn’t some wealthy person, how he didn’t have a lot of money in his checking account or savings account,” Beagle said. “But then he said, ‘I’m the richest man in this room, and I’ll tell you why.’ He talked about the relationships he had, the young men he got to mentor and how much that meant to him.
“Nobody had a better touch with his players and made a greater impact on their lives than Jack Pratt. He was just a rare, rare person.”