State championship and hall of fame coach Paul Pozega went 'above and beyond' to help students
Alan Haller had plenty of success during his time as a student-athlete at Sexton and then at Michigan State.
And he doesn't think he would have thrived competing in track and field or football, reached the NFL or even eventually become Michigan State's athletic director if it wasn't for the influence of Paul Pozega during the 1980s at Sexton High School..
"I don't really know if I would have been able to accomplish some of the things that I have accomplished without him in my life for those four years," Haller said. "I'm 100% positive I would not have.
"I wouldn't have gone on to some of the things I've done because he taught me skills that I'm still using today that aren't really track-and-field skill. They are life things. The man is that important to me and he was that important to a lot of people."
Pozega, who was a hall of fame and state championship coach, died Thursday at the age of 93.
Pozega was a large track and field figure in mid-Michigan and was instrumental in the formation of the Greater Lansing Honor Roll meet. He was inducted into the Greater Lansing Sports Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Sexton Athletic Hall of Fame in 2015.
Lansing St. Mary's, where Pozega started his career as a teacher and coach, won a boys Class C state track title in 1962 under his direction. Later in his career, Pozega taught and coached at Sexton, where hed led the team to back-to-back Class A boys state titles in 1986 and 1987, with Haller being among the contributors. Sexton also had a state runner-up boys finish in Class A in 1991 under Pozega, who was twice named the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association Class A Coach of the Year.
The back-to-back Sexton state title teams are being enshrined into the Greater Lansing Sports Hall of Fame in August.
"He would always tell me stories about the athletes that he had when he was coaching — especially at Sexton," said Pozega's granddaughter, Jenna Magness, who starred as a runner at Grand Ledge and MSU before turning pro.
"He just always wanted everybody to push to be their best and that's definitely a big reason of (why I am) where I am today. He always had really high standards for all of us in school, too. He would always ask about our grades and how school was going. He wasn't just an athletics guy. He just had so many stories. He could talk for hours."
Lansing School District athletic director Chris Henderson, who attended Sexton in the late 1980s, said Pozega had a strong influence while impacting many.
"I remember him as being a very caring and kind coach and very inspiring and motivating," Henderson said. "He always talked to us about our academics and the importance of education. He was always willing to go above and beyond to help his students and athletes out."
Those things stood out to Haller, who learned the value of work ethic as an athlete and many other valuable life lessons.
"For the '70s, '80s and '90s he was the most influential person in coaching in the Lansing area in terms of what he did for not only track and field but high school sports in general," Haller said. "He cared so much about what students learned from the sports experience. Yes, he was successful. I think he was probably the most influential person in high school sports in (those) three decades.
"He had that much of an impact on people and systems."
A visitation for Pozega is scheduled for Friday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Holihan-Atkin-Barclay Funeral Home, 406 N. Bridge St., in Grand Ledge.
Contact Brian Calloway at bcalloway@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @brian_calloway.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Sexton track and field coach Paul Pozega left big impact on students
