Even minus his eyesight, coach Marton focused on kids

John (Jack) Marton of Richfield lost his eyesight while serving in the Army but still coached middle-school-aged children in sports for the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board and for several Catholic schools.

Marton, who in 2007 was inducted into the inaugural Washburn High School Hall of Fame as a coach and player, died of cancer on Oct. 11 in St. Louis Park.

He was 80.

Marton coached basketball, football and baseball as a volunteer for the Park Board from 1947 to 1958, piling up a table-full of trophies.

Jake McCoy of Minneapolis recalled the excitement when football practice began in August, with Marton holding practice six days a week at Pearl Park.

"You just couldn't wait to get down there," McCoy said. "He made everybody a part of the team."

For away games, the team sometimes traveled by streetcar.

"He never looked back, and he didn't let blindness rule his life," said his daughter, Kellie Bauer of Richfield.

Players would sometimes tell him who made the shot in plays that he carefully crafted. And for football and baseball, he would use binoculars that enabled him to make out the plays.

From 1959 to 1985, he coached mostly basketball and taught physical education for Minneapolis Catholic schools, including the Visitation Church, the former Church of the Resurrection and the Church of the Incarnation, where Pat Kaiser of Plymouth played basketball and baseball.

He also coached at Benilde-St. Margaret's and the Blake School.

"What was unique about him, was that he made it fun, but he also very much stressed the fundamentals," Kaiser said. "He taught us lessons of life outside of basketball."

Marton started coaching when he was 15, helping neighborhood kids. He graduated from Washburn High in 1947, and in the early 1950s, served in the Army during the Korean War, where he guarded an ammunition depot and taught Korean kids the finer points of basketball.

While in Korea, he had surgery for a hernia. A related medical procedure led to the infection of his optic nerve and the eventual loss of his vision.

When he returned to the Twin Cities, the former standout guard at Washburn enrolled at what is now the University of St. Thomas, planning on a career in graphic arts.

But it wasn't long before he had to drop his studies as his sight faded to the point where he was left with only some peripheral vision.

Even so, he could "sit down at center court and make a basket nine times out of 10," his daughter said.

He could be a gruff coach.

Dick Erdall of Minneapolis, a former city council member who coached with Marton, said Marton insisted the kids "play the game right."

"He was great with kids, and he had a tremendous impact on people," Erdall said.

In addition to Kellie, he is survived by his wife of 50 years, Janis of Richfield; another daughter, Sharon Larson of Minneapolis; brother, Bill Marton of Eden Prairie, and four grandchildren.

Services have been held.