John Horner

John A. Horner, Jr, age 83 of Shaker Heights, OH, died in his residence on April 10, 2012. He was the loving husband of Mary Alice nee Miller. He was the dear father of Marilyn Jean Knox John B. of Collegeville, PA and John A. Horner, III of Lakewood, OH. He was a dear grandfather to Peter W. Knox of New York, NY and Jason R. Knox of Creve Coeur, MO, and brother of Dorothy Mae Jackson of Towson, MD. The family prefers that those who wish may make contributions in his name to University School Scholarship Fund, 2785 SOM Center Rd, Hunting Valley, OH 44022 or to Kenyon College, 106 College Park St. Grambier, OH 43022 or to a charity of choice. Services will be held at Plymouth Church, 2860 Coventry Rd, Shaker Hts., OH at a time and place to be determined soon. Interment, Druid Ridge Cemetery in Pikesville, MD. FRIENDS MAY CALL AT BROWN-FORWARD, 17022 CHAGRIN BLVD, SHAKER HTS, OH AT A DATE AND TIME TO BE DETERMINED. Born in Pittsburgh, PA on October 7, 1928, Jack's family moved to Boston, MA in early 1930's where they reunited with some Baltimore, MD friends, Mr. and Mrs. John Lemmon. Their son, John, who often played with young Jack, went on to become a Hollywood star - Jack Lemmon. Moving to Cleveland in 1933, the family settled in Shaker Heights. While in junior high school, Jack became the ballboy from the Cleveland Indians Baseball team. He was excused from school to work at the home baseball games where he became friendly with some of the players. This influenced Jack's love of sports which led to his eventual coaching career. Jack graduated from Shaker Heights High School 1946 and attended Kenyon College A.B. Cum Laude 1950. Jack's experience at Kenyon College gave him an opportunity to participate in a variety of activities such as football, baseball, radio announcing and yearbook pictures and articles. He was the singles champion in badminton for three straight years. One person he defeated in 1947 was a fellow Shaker grad and movie star Paul Newman, who also attended Kenyon College. Jack subsequently received his Master's Degree from Western Reserve University in 1956. From 1953-1968, Jack Horner was employed with University School in Hunting Valley, OH in various positions, including but not limited to Teacher, Coach and Administration. After a successful football coaching career at US, which saw his teams win 5 State Championships, including two back-to-back undefeated seasons and a 77% won-loss record 78-28, Jack was given an honorary membership in the American Football Coaches Association. Jack also had a brief but successful four year stint as head US baseball coach as well. Jack left US in June, 1968 to become Headmaster of the Harrisburg Academy in Harrisburg, PA for 10 years. He returned to Cleveland to be the Executive Director of the Cleveland Engineering Society for seven years. He retired in 1985, but served twice as the Interim Director of the Shaker Lakes Nature Center along with his civic activities with the Cleveland Retired Athletic Directors and Coaches Association, Cleveland Rotary, Torch International and President of the local and state Sons of the American Revolution and National Chairman of the SAR Oration Committee. In recognition of his many years of service to the Sons of the American Revolution organization, Jack was honored with the "Minuteman Award". This prestigious award is the highest award presented by the National Society for distinguished service at the national level. He founded the Cleveland Chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and was also involved in the Cleveland Science Fair and Cleveland Minorities in Education. He also allowed time for domestic and foreign travel, golf and bridge before and during retirement.


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