WHHS Football History

Former WHHS Coach Howard Fletcher

Fletcher Dies in Florida Hospice Facility

DEKALB, Ill. (AP) -- Howard W. Fletcher, who coached Northern Illinois to the college division national championship in 1963, has died, the university said Friday. He was 88. Fletcher died Thursday night in a hospice facility near his retirement home in Fort Myers, Fla. The hospice simply listed "natural causes" for his death. "He was the man who initiated the modern era of football here," current Huskies coach Joe Novak said Friday in a statement. "He was a real innovator, the forerunner of today's wide-open offenses." Fletcher was 74-48-1 at Northern Illinois from 1956-68, including the 10-0 season in 1963 when the Huskies won the Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title and went on to beat Southwest Missouri State 21-14 in the Mineral Water Bowl. The AP and NAIA both ranked Northern Illinois No. 1 that season in the college division, the equivalent of the current Division I-AA and Division II. Fletcher had 10 players go on to sign with NFL teams as free agents and he 13 players chosen for Little All-America teams. "Football-wise, his mind was ahead of the time," said George Bork, the quarterback and a Little All-American selection from the 1963 team. "At that point, we threw the ball 64 times a game and that was unheard of." Before going to Northern Illinois, Fletcher coached football at high schools in West Chicago and Cincinnati. A native of Streator, he was an All-Little 19 Conference tackle in 1938-39 at Northern Illinois, then transferred to the University of Illinois. Fletcher is survived by his wife Chris. Memorial services will be Monday in Hope Hospice chapel in Fort Myers.

 

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