Last nights tale about Howard Cotter definitely brightened a Monday evening, but theres obviously a deeper connection to Flanagan Falcon football than just a humorous retort to an opposing fan in the semi-final game (see previous post on 11/17/2014). In fact, when one considers the various connections between Mr. Cotter and the Falcons, the decision by Superintendent Oscar Wistoff to hire Howard Cotter for a mid-year opening looks brilliant. Fortunately for Flanagan, bringing Cotter in to teach meant he needed a place to live and raise a family. For Howard and Marvis, a family meant three sons, all of them footballers. Harlan (Butch) was the oldest of the three, a 66 graduate; then Mark (69), and Kevin (71). Each of them had their own individual identity as players, but each had a definite impact for the teams on which they played. Butch Cotter, it could be said, had the greatest impact of the three on Flanagan football, and it came in a couple of different forms. After FHS, Butch took his football-playing skills to Illinois State University and played two years for the Redbirds, winning a letter in his sophomore year before focusing his college efforts in other areas. The knowledge he would gain as a Redbird, however, provided a great foundation for the various coaching roles he would have as a professional educator in different locations such as Pontiac, Plano, and Seneca, as well as Flanagan. Butchs coaching lineage -- the family tree of coaches that have had a connection to him -- includes numerous football coaches who have been in the Falcon program at one time, including Paul Crego, Brent Ehresman, Jerry Pohl, Kent Schwerin, Maurie Duffy, and most likely many others. But Butch Cotter also had connections to the 1974 state championship team, too. First of all, when the 74 team members were in their first year at FHS, Butch was their Freshman team coach and had the responsibility to instill fundamentals to a group of kids who had never been in pads before. When asked about the experiences the group had over all four years, the name Butch Cotter gets mentioned quickly as being the man who catapulted them to higher levels by developing skills, techniques, game approach, and work ethic. Butch Cotter also contributed directly to the 74 team when he became the advance scout for the playoff run. Cotter made the long drives to scout the games involving the future Falcon opponents, providing in-depth reports from which Coach Roger Zehr would build his game-plan. (Photos of those reports have been attached below.) It should also be noted that Gary Estes headed up the advance scouting efforts for the regular season. Depending on the Friday night, Estes would have been assisted by John Dawson, Norm Ringenberg, or even his newlywed wife, Connie (Connie states that she learned a lot that season -- one of her jobs was to watch to see if the plays included a pulling guard). Estes, a 68 FHS graduate who played center and middle linebacker for the Falcons, had just moved back to Flanagan after working for Delta Airlines in Chicago. Estes states that the bad part of the scouting job was missing out on seeing the games, though he did watch a few of them on film. When playoff time came, however, he had to give up the role due to a conflicting work schedule (that type of loyal work ethic no doubt served the Flanagan schools well as Estes eventually would work in custodial services for 26 years). Estes one game that he was able to see live... the state championship game against Concord-Triopia.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 03:47:20 +0000
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