This is the fourth in a series of articles profiling members of the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024

SLIPPERY ROCK — Simply put, John Papa was made for track and field.

The Gateway High School graduate excelled in cross country and track there, then went on to become a two-time PSAC champion in the decathlon at Slippery Rock University. Six years after graduating from The Rock in 1979, he was back on campus as an assistant coach in the sport.

Taking over as head coach in 1987, Papa coached the men’s and women’s track and cross country programs for 35 years, racking up numerous championships — and earning himself induction into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame.

Papa will be inducted along with seven others — Josh Barthlow, Brandon Fusco, Tammie Kelley, Kevin Doyle, Lily Grenci, Dana Petruska and John Enrietto — at the organization’s banquet at 6:30 p.m. April 27 in Founders Hall on the campus of Butler County Community College.

“Mike Franko called me and I was pretty excited,” Papa said. “It’s pretty neat going into a Hall of Fame like this. I’m very honored.”

Papa is already a member of the Slippery Rock University Athletic Hall of Fame.

“Gateway was a very large high school when I was there, with plenty of athletes,” he said. “When it came to sports, athletes specialized rather early. Cross country and track were my thing.”

When he came to The Rock, Papa immediately took on the decathlon, which consists of 10 events — the 100 meters, 400 meters, 1,500 meters, 110-meter hurdles, long jump, high jump,. pole vault, discus, javelin and shot put.

Papa placed third in the PSAC in the decathlon as a freshman, took second as a sophomore and won the conference title his junior and senior years. He placed sixth nationally in 1977 and was second in 1979, earning All-America honors.

He quickly parlayed his experience in the decathlon into a lengthy coaching career. That coaching career began at Loudoun County High School in Virginia the year after his college graduation. Papa was there for six years.

“I studied to become a teacher, so I was happy with that opportunity,” he said of the moved to Virginia. “But something always told me I belonged back on that campus at SRU.

“Bill Lennox was my college coach and every time I’d come back for a visit, I’d go to his house for a visit. We were sitting on his porch one day and he said I should come back as an assistant coach. Shortly thereafter, it happened.”

And Papa never left. He even bought Lennox’s house eventually and now lives there.

The numbers he compiled as coach of The Rock are astounding:

PSAC Coach of the year 21 times, Atlantic Region Coach of the Year 16 times.

25 total PSAC team titles and 32 runner-up finishes.

Coached 12 national champions, 127 All-Americans, 345 individual or relay titles at the PSAC Championships.

More than 500 student-athletes earning PSAC Scholar-Athlete honors.

“Doing the decathlon all those years definitely helped me as a coach,” Papa said. “When you’re coaching someone in an event, it helps to have had the experience from doing that event yourself — and I did just about all of them.

“My first year as head coach of the (SRU) men’s and women’s teams, 1987, we were hosting the PSAC championship meet and neither of our teams was favored to win. Both of our teams won the titles and both came down to the last event, the 4x400 relay. That was a huge day for our program.”

Papa said the program remained consistent because SRU “isn’t a hard sell to kids. That campus has so much to offer. And we were persistent in our efforts to recruit kids.”

When Papa retired as coach in 2022, he handed the reins to longtime assistant Bill Jordan, who was also a decathlete at SRU.

“A smooth and natural transition,” Papa said. “That made it a lot easier for me to walk away.”

Tickets to the BCSHOF banquet are available at www.butlersportshall.com or at the Butler Radio Network on Pillow Street in Butler, Parker Appliance in Chicora, Saxonburg Drug or Maddalon Jewelers in Zelienople.