AUBURN - Even though John Mazola passed away three years ago, his memory lives on in the minds of those that knew him in the Auburn sports community. His achievements will now live on forever after his induction into the Auburn High School Athletic Hall of Fame in November.

A 1941 graduate of East High School, Mazola played football, basketball, baseball and ran track.

“He was a fantastic athlete,” said Mazola's niece, Sharon Springer. “He has 16 athletic (varsity letters). That is a record as far as we know that he still has; nobody has been able to break that record. He was just a fabulous athlete.”

Friends and fellow inductees, like Ed “Hungry” Krause, remember Mazola fondly and his dedication and natural gifts as an athlete.

“He was awfully good,” Krause said. “Bob Dean said that he was one of the greatest athletes he had ever coached.”

Krause remembers Mazola as someone who was naturally blessed with the physical size and skills to be a great athlete and the kind of personality that endeared him to his fellow players.

“He was about 175 or 180 pounds,” Krause said. “About 6-foot-2. He was like a giant back then. He started when he was a young kid and he just knew he had the natural ability to play and he kept at it. He was also really well liked; he was a just a really nice guy and good person to be on the team with.”

According to stories that have been passed down through the family, Mazola's talents put him in high demand and coaches from time to time found themselves sharing him during their season.

“Baseball and track overlapped,” Springer said. “He was good enough that they wanted him to play both. So when a game and a track meet overlapped he'd go play the game and then the coach would pull him out so he could get over to the track meet. He was that good that coaches were willing to share him.”

After graduating from East High School, Mazola went to Western Kentucky University, where he continued to play everything he could, becoming a varsity football starter as a freshman.

“He had a lot of schools interested in him,” Springer said. “I think he chose Western Kentucky because of sports, but I'm not sure.”

It was during this time that Mazola met his wife, Dean, and they began a family that included two children, Jack and Larry, both of whom passed away in the late 1970s.

“That was really difficult,” Springer said. “Jack died in 1975 and Larry in 1979. It was really tough on the family, but until then they had a very happy life as a family.”

Until he retired to Florida, Mazola worked as a teacher, guidance counselor and coach.

“He really loved to coach,” Springer said. “He was a really wonderful person and I think he really enjoyed having the chance to work with kids and help them as athletes.”

For his family, the recognition and the induction into the hall of fame have come as an incredible honor.

“I'll be there and my children will be there,” Springer said. “Jack and Larry both had kids that live pretty far away, but they might make it, we're not sure just yet. But it is really nice to see my uncle recognized like this. He was a really fun guy and we are all very proud of him.”