Telatnik, John

 

 

John Telatnik, 2017

John Telatnik began developing his athletic talents at the age of 12 in the Lorain Recreation Department summer programs. He progressed into high jumping at Irving Junior High and  subsequently at Lorain High School from which he graduated in the class of 1948A.

John was a three-year letterman on the track and baseball teams.

In 1946, John placed first in the Cleveland National Junior Olympics track meet as a member of the Lorain Sokol Lodge Team.
During the 1947 track season, John placed first in the high jump at the Ohio High School Athletic Association
Championship Track Meet in Columbus with a jump of 5’-11”. He was the last Lorain male athlete to capture first place in the State Track and Field Championships until 2016.

In 1947, John also set a Lorain High School and personal jump records of 6’-0¼” at the prestigious Mansfield Relays meet. John was undefeated in his senior year.

He enrolled in Western Michigan University, a well-regarded Division I baseball program, and was a member of the freshman team. John graduated from Western Michigan in 1952.

During his years of playing sandlot baseball in Lorain, John was a hard-throwing right-handed pitcher and a member of many championship teams at all levels. He was a key member of several top Class A teams in 1947, 1950 and 1952, including Yale Clothes and National Tube. He was a starting pitcher on the 1957 National Tube team which won the National Amateur Baseball Federation Championship in Flint, Michigan.

John served in the military during the Korean War and went to Kent State where he acquired necessary teaching certification credit hours.

John was a member of the teaching staff at Clearview High School, 1960-1970, serving students and athletes as teacher, coach and athletic director. From 1970-1980 he was a teacher at Lorain’s Irving Junior High School.

John has been a lifelong resident of Lorain County, having resided in Lorain and currently in Amherst.