Heritage Junior/Senior High School will honor the contributions of legendary football and track coach Bob Yager with the naming of the football field at Heritage Stadium in his honor on August 23.
Robert O. Yager Field will be dedicated ahead of the Patriots’ season opener against Bellmont, Heritage athletic director Tim Burton tells PSM.
A letter written by Heritage High School Administration & Head Coaches to the East Allen County Schools board advocated for the naming of the field.
“Bob Yager’s multitude of accomplishments during his years at Heritage Jr/Sr High School make him an outstanding candidate for this honor,” the letter read. “Coach Yager was not only an excellent role model for the students and athletes of Heritage Jr/Sr High School, but he was also a powerful mentor to all the students that he encountered.”
.png)
Yager spent 36 years at Heritage, where he was head football coach from 1978 to 2006 and head track coach from 1975 to 1997 and 2006 through 2007.
As football coach, Yager led the Patriots to 179 victories, including 18 winning seasons and a 90-23 record between 1997 and 2006. Heritage won seven Allen County Athletic Conference championships and two sectional championships. He was named ACAC Coach of the Year five times and the Indiana North All-Star coach twice.
Yager was inducted into the Indiana Football Hall of Fame in 2008.
In track & field, he was named Conference Coach of the Year three times and led the Patriots to multiple ACAC championships.
Yager grew up in Toledo and graduated from Whitmer High School, where he played football, basketball and baseball.
He started his coaching career in 1969 at Memorial High School in St. Mary’s, Ohio, where he was the cross country head coach and assistant coach for track & field and basketball. He arrived at Heritage in 1971, and started as an assistant coach in football and track and gymnastics. He also started intramural football at Heritage.
Yager taught science at Heritage, retiring from EACS in 2007. He remains a visible and ardent supporter of Heritage athletics and is regularly seen at sporting events.
The dedication of Robert O. Yager Field will happen before before Heritage's Week 1 varsity football game versus Bellmont. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
PSM is proud to be the official sports medicine provider of Heritage Patriots athletics, and congratulates Coach Yager on this tremendous recognition!
photos courtesy Heritage High School Lantern yearbook