Mr. Mayer, PE Teacher, Dean, driver’s ED instructor, and beloved coach for over 30 years will be leaving OLCHS come the end of this year. To put all of that time into some perspective, he is currently teaching the posterity of some of his previous students. His legacy and impact on our school and community will be remembered for decades to come. Let us reminisce about his career and the key events as a coach at Oak Lawn.

        Mr. Mayer, also known as Pat Mayer, began his journey at OLCHS as a student. After graduating in 1983 and attending Northern Illinois for 5 years he made his return to our school in 1989 with the help of Mr. Sullivan, who was a mentor and teacher for the young Pat Mayer, and as he recalls, a great coach. Mr. Sullivan had a positive impact on his future career choice, without him, we may have never had such a great coach and instructor at our school. While in college he discovered his love for sports and athletics and decided to pursue coaching as a career. During the advent of his career, he taught PE and was a Dean (which he remembers not liking all that much). Over the rest of his 34 years at Oak Lawn, he ended up coaching Football, Boy’s Basketball, Softball, Girl’s bowling, and Golf. The most significant and exciting event of his coaching career was in 2003 when the Softball team he coached made it to the IHSA Supersectional. However even though some years the teams may not have taken home victory, Coach Mayer remained enthusiastic and encouraged his athletes. Even though Mr. Mayer isn’t as involved in coaching as he once was, his impact on school sports can still be observed, through his involvement in facilitating and announcing Basketball and Wrestling matches. 

        Now to conclude, a question, what is single-handed, one of the most exciting things about being a high schooler? Getting your license. Before you can do that however you need to go through the driver’s education course at our school. If you were lucky enough to have him as a teacher as I was, you know how enjoyable that class was to take.  

         Mr. Mayer exemplifies the best of coaches and instructors at our school and even though his departure from us is unfortunate, maybe one day someone will be able to fill the void that he will be leaving.