The dedication and effort that would define Pat Gora's 34-year tenure as an assistant coach for the North Central College football and track and field programs was evident before he met a single student-athlete.
Shortly after joining the football staff in the summer of 1976, Gora joined the rest of the Cardinals' team and coaching staff in performing the physical labor needed to complete the construction of the College's football stadium.
"I had coached for eight years at the high school level, and I thought it would be neat to be able to coach in college," Gora said. "I came in one day and sat down with Al Carius (H) '06 and Hank Guenther for about 10 to 15 minutes apiece and I got hired. There was not a lot of formality back then.
"I got hired in June, and I started working (on the stadium) in July and worked all the way through the football season. We were hauling around wheelbarrows full of concrete and laying bricks, just whatever they told us to do. I think it brought the whole team together."
Gora coached defensive linemen for the football program for 22 seasons under five head coaches, of which 11 resulted in winning records. The Cardinals posted a 7-1-1 overall record in 1982, tying the school record for wins at the time, and allowed only 9.9 points per game in 1979, the second-lowest output yielded by a North Central team since the NCAA split into three competitive divisions in 1973. Gora coached Matt Campillo '81, the Cardinals' only three-year First Team All-College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) selection from 1960 to 2004, and three other First Team All-CCIW linemen.
"(In 1979), that was probably the best defensive line I ever coached," Gora recalled, "and they were not big kids. We just kept slanting and angling and hitting the gaps. Our opponents couldn't block us because we were just too quick."
Gora continued to coach track and field at Wheaton Central High School (now Wheaton Warrenville South) until 1986, when he responded to Carius' urging and took over as the coach for the throwing events.
"Al had been asking me to come over for years, but I guess I just liked doing something else at the high school besides teaching," Gora said. "That was a great move too. It was a lot of fun."
Gora spent 25 years coaching throwers for the men's and women's track and field teams before stepping down after the 2010 outdoor season. North Central teams won seven national championships and 41 CCIW championships during his tenure, and Cardinal throwers won 33 individual CCIW championships and 14 All-America honors. He coached two individual national champions, Brian Fennelly '94 (discus throw) and Justin Rapp '02 (shot put).
Gora considers the consistency in coaching staffs and their philosophies in both programs as a key factor in enabling him to coach successfully for so long.
"The track coaching staff basically stayed the same the whole time," he noted. "So the philosophy was the same. It was so easy because we knew each other so well.
"It wasn't as consistent in football, but we always seemed to transition smoothly because all the head coaches knew each other. I was like a staple here, I guess."
Combining coaching pursuits with a 32-year teaching career at the high school level was not without its challenges, but Gora considered it an ideal dynamic.
"I had good pay at the high school level, I always loved teaching, and I got the opportunity to work at the college level," he said. "I always figured I had the best of both worlds."
