We'll miss you, coach!

We were all sad to hear of the passing of John Pont to cancer on July 1st at his home in Oxford, Ohio.

He was indeed an inspiration to so many on both sides of the Pacific.

His coaching career at his alma mater Miami of Ohio (where he set career rushing records inhis playing days); at Yale; Indiana; Northwestern; and Mt. Saint Joseph's was impressive in the way that he loved to embrace the challenge of taking downtrodden teams to new heights. He took Indiana's to the Rose Bowl at the end of the magical 1967 season, its first bowl game ever. He guided Mt. Saint Joesph's (Ohio) through its first few years. In Japan, he took a Rokbull team all the way from the bottom into the top division.

Coach Pont did much to advance the game in Japan, not only as head coach of Rokbull, but with his John Pont coaching clinics as well. He would always take time to talk football with me, and encouraged me to get more involved. I had plans to interview him this summer for this writing project on football in Japan, as he was one of the inspirations for it.

Those of us who were blessed to know him will miss him greatly.