TRAVERSE CITY — Dozens of community members joined to unveil the new Traverse City Central John P. Lober Track Stadium at a dedication Sunday at Traverse City Central.
“I have a joy for teaching,” Lober said. “I was put here on this earth, I found out after 20 years, to be a teacher and to be a coach. I thought it was the greatest thing in the world that what I was doing every day, I loved. I never worked. I played every day.”
The stadium renaming was approved unanimously by the TCAPS Board of Education in a 7-0 vote in the spring. The vote required the board to waive its own policy against naming facilities after individuals — a similar exception it made last year for Central’s tennis facility, renamed after longtime coach Larry Nykerk.
Over his 52 seasons coaching track for the Trojans, Lober’s teams posted a 367-36-3 dual meet record with 136 invitational titles, 68 all-state athletes, 21 conference championships, 17 individual state champions, 11 D1 regional titles and one Class A team state title; he also coached cross country for 27 seasons.
Lober, whose family first came to the area when his grandfather bought property on Glen Lake in 1911, said he couldn’t land a coaching job in Traverse City when he graduated from college and had to look elsewhere. He landed in Bellaire and even had some of his first athletes at the ceremony.
“Thank you guys for coming here today,” Lober said. “It means the world to me to see you, and you’ll always, always be those special first guys for me that kept me in this business.”
Lober admits the program’s success was never a solo effort. He read through a list of assistants and fellow coaches spanning six decades.
“Many of you were former Trojan athletes, and you are the core of everything that was good,” Lober said. “There are many coaches at all levels here at TCAPS too numerous to mention, and today our program flourishes under Brian and Paul. I want you to know that we were a team, and we did this together. It wasn’t me. I’m just part of the puzzle. To all the athletes, you motivated me to learn more, to give more, and to continue coaching all these years. We traveled thousands of miles… and I watched so many of you blossom as adults, to set incredible records, and as a result of what you’ve experienced here, go on to have a great life. And it was so fun, and you gave me so much joy each day as we worked together to make our dreams come true.”
Lober always believed in strong area competition as several other local schools were represented.
“You inspired me, challenged me through the years to be a better coach” he said.
Lober’s first wife, Judy, died in 2000, leaving behind three stepdaughters and his own children.
“With so much love, as she taught us what it was to be a big, loving, caring family,” John Lober said.
He later met Margo Million, now his wife of roughly 20 years, whom he credited with giving him “so much strength to be the best that I can be” and called “a velvet hammer coach when I need it.”
The family now counts eight kids, 20 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren as their own.
“I love you all so much,” he said.
He singled out his daughter, Lisa, and son, Joe, both Central graduates, as the people he’s most proud of in the world.
“They are both making a difference in the world, and bringing great comfort and joy to many others in what you do each day,” he said. “Thank you for the sacrifices you’ve made to allow me to be a coach … I told my granddaughter, someday when I’m gone, if you ever need to talk to me, just come here, sit on a bench, and I’ll probably be out there. I am more than humbled and honored that you are here. This facility, yes, will have our family name on it, but I want you to know that all of you here today in some way have made this one of the most memorable moments in my life. Thank you everyone for this tremendous honor. God bless you all.”
Bob Lober, John’s younger brother, opened the personal tributes from several speakers crediting John with helping thousands of students-athletes over the decades.
Representing the 2020s, 2026 graduate Annika Powers — an all-state hurdler and the fastest women’s hurdler in school history, headed to Hope College next year — recalled meeting Lober as a fifth grader at a local meet.
“I was just a little kid who loved to run, but somehow he made me feel like I mattered,” she said.
Representing the 2010s, Adam Duke, a Trojan graduate of 2012, described Lober’s ability to channel teenage energy into what Duke called a “junkyard dog mentality” that shaped his life well beyond running.
Representing the 1990s, Jason Whittaker, director of the Traverse City Track Club, and Eric Houghton, a two-time all-stater and All-American who still coaches cross country at Central, credited Lober with keeping them in the sport for life.
Houghton recalled Lober correcting his high-jump coaching technique years later, and either Whittaker described calling Lober for support after his younger brother died nine years ago. “I heard about a two-second pause, and he was like, absolutely, I’ll do this,” he said.
Representing the 1980s, Kenny Neal, class of 1982, described a car accident in January 1980 that left him without direction until a formal letter from Lober inviting him to run track.
Neal said he still has the letter, and that Lober signed it for him decades later at Lober’s National High School Coaches Hall of Fame induction. Neal went on to earn a track scholarship, met his wife of 38 years through the sport, and later coached middle school track himself.
“Do you believe in angels?” Neal said. “He would set the bar up to six feet, and he would tell me it was 5’9”, the height I could clear … I don’t look at that as a lie. He’s using psychology, and what do you know? I cleared it.”
Representing the 1970s, current Trojan girls track coach Paul Anderson, class of 1977, read remarks from teammate John Benedict, Lober’s first all-state athlete, who could not attend. Benedict described watching Lober push for years — fundraisers, meetings, even a radiothon — to get the track built before it opened in 1978. Benedict recalled being knocked down mid-race his junior year and wanting to file a disqualification appeal; Lober’s response became a mantra Benedict carried into his own business career: “Here’s what we’re going to do … we’re going to work even harder.”