This is the third in a series of articles profiling the 2023 Butler Football Hometown Hero honorees.

TARENTUM — When it came to Butler High School football, John Hartle never played a down.

But he experienced the games from a number of different perspectives.

Hartle was an English teacher in the Butler Area School District for 36 years — 33 years at the high school — and was present at Butler football games from 1975 through 2006, through head coaching years of Art Bernardi, Tim Nunes, Sam Albert, Bill Bohren, Mark Farabee and Garry Cathell.

John Hartle

He was never on any of those coaching staffs — but he did serve as Golden Tornado band announcer, cheerleading coach and stadium public address announcer through those years.

“I was always around Butler football,” Hartle said. “I was there for the glory years. I was there when things went bad. But I have fond memories and always have a positive attitude when it comes to that program.”

Hartle will be one of five individuals to be honored by the Butler Football Hometown Hero program — Craig Lucas, Randy Fillhart, Mickey Haley and Jay Miranda the others — prior to the Golden Tornado’s 2023 home opener against Meadville on Sept. 1 at Art Bernardi Stadium.

“I never knew such a program existed,” Hartle said of the Hometown Hero program. “It was a total surprise to me when they called. It’s nice to be honored and well thought of for the things you do.”

Hartle’s first experience with Butler football was as the band announcer. He recalled the 1977 WPIAL championship game against Penn Hills when the lights went out Friday night and the game had to be finished the next night at Mt. Lebanon.

“My family has always been big into Pitt football,” he said. “We went to the Pitt-Penn State game that (Saturday) afternoon, then I drove straight to Mt. Lebanon for the completion of that Butler game.

“There was a blizzard toward the end of the college game and the temperature dropped so much that night, the valves on our brass instruments froze, so the band couldn’t do much.”

When Karen D’Antonio vacated the Butler cheerleading advisor and coaching post to take over the Sequinettes, Hartle took on the cheerleading position.

“I was involved in coaching cheerleaders at Slippery Rock University,. so they knew I had experience in that field,” he said. “There was supplemental pay involved, but you always put in more hours than expected.

“I was the one who got the Butler cheerleaders to compete nationally. The school didn’t ask me to do that and I knew I’d be putting in a lot more work on my own, but it was worth it.”

When Mickey Haley stepped down as public address announcer on Friday nights, Hartle was asked to take over — and did so for more than 10 years.

Being around the games was important to him.

“It was so much fun,” he said. “My fondest memory was when we upset undefeated North Hills (28-20 in 2000). That was such a big upset ... I was advisor for the high school yearbook then and felt we needed to devote two pages to that game. That was a big deal.”

As was Hartle’s career.

“I went to a small school in Somerset County,” he said. “Coming to Butler, one of the biggest schools in the WPIAL, and going to those football banquets meant a lot to me.

“It was big-time and I was just happy to be a part of it.”