By Joanna Chadwick
He was a very worldly guy int eh school environment. just you wouere never surprised when you went somewhere and he knw someone. it was thats way from when i was a little kid.
Pat Paske, a longtime coach, administrator and teacher died Tuesday morning at age 72.
Paske, a 1971 graduate of Kansas State, was a fixture in high school sports around the state of Kansas.
“You were never surprised when you went somewhere and he knew someone,” his son, Scott said. “It was that way from when I was a little kid.”
He coached boys basketball for 23 years at seven schools.
Paske started coaching at Westmoreland Junior High and then spent three seniors as Hoxie High’s boys basketball coach before moving onto Lakin for two years. He coached at Mankato for a season.
Then he was the boys basketball coach and the football coach at Eureka for six seasons. He led the 1980 Eureka football team to the Class 4A quarterfinals and a 9-2 record.
“The days I really remember were when he was the coach of basketball and football at Eureka,” Scott Paske said. “He connected with the community there, he connected with the kids there. A lot of the kids he coached have been reaching out to me today.
“It was around the area he grew up in, and he really enjoyed those years coaching there.”
Pat Paske then went on to be the Augusta boys basketball coach from 1985-92 and then two seasons at Pittsburg.
Paske added golf to his coaching repertoire when he was also the boys basketball coach at NE-Arma.
He moved into administration as the athletic director at Tonganoxie, Lansing and Newton before wrapping up his coaching career as the middle school football coach in Augusta from 20o0-2004.
Paske taught at Derby High from 2004 until his death.
He also officiated high school football and baseball, and was a track starter since 2004.
“He loved sports,” Scott Paske said. “He just absolutely loved them. Looking at his timeline, you can see when grandkids came along.
“But he wanted to stay involved somehow. Being a people person, track starter, that was in his wheelhouse. He’d talk to coaches all the time. He’d come and say, I saw this kid run this time in the 100 — watch for him at state.”
