By Nathan Pace
InkFreeNews

Pat Speicher poses for a photo with the Nappanee Golf Championship he won in 1965. Photo provided by Christy Speicher.

Milford alumnus Pat Speicher achieved victories in pretty much every sport he tried and brought up more athletes at Wawasee. Today, at the age of 84, Speicher still finds a way to maintain healthy habits. Now residing in Toledo, Ohio, he admits not many from his high school days are still around.

“A lot of people my age have passed away. I ran into Roger Baumgartner, (Milford alumnus), a while back and I said we know more people at the graveyard than we do in town,” Speicher said.

While he was a student at Milford he kept a full schedule playing basketball, baseball, track and field and played in the school band. His basketball stats made him one of the leaders in the area.

“I averaged about 18 points per game in my career. The highest I had was 28,” Speicher said.

In track and field, Speicher won the county championship in pole vault. In baseball, his team won the county championship his freshman year.

After graduating in 1958, Speicher chose to join the navy. He served on the USS Farragut, a guided missile destroyer and the first ship of its kind.

“I was in Cuba during the missile crisis. I was down there for several months. To stop the missiles from coming in from Russia,” Speicher said.

Speicher says he played golf at Guantanamo Bay Cuba. He would soon conclude his time in the navy after the missile crisis. He returned to Milford and had success with the golf courses in the area. He has won multiple local golf tournaments, including a 1965 city championship in Nappanee. He won a Michiana Seniors golf tournament and club tournaments at the Maxwelton Golf Course.

Pat Speicher is pictured in the 1958 Milford High School yearbook.

Speicher credits his golf success to learning the sport when he was growing up in Milford.

“I started caddying when I was 12 years old. I caddied through four to five years. That’s how I learned how to play golf,” Speicher said.

He has two children who made an impact in Wawasee sports. Pat Speicher Jr. played multiple sports as well and graduated in 1982. A knee injury hindered his time at Wawasee, but he was still able to pitch and went on to play baseball at Bethel College now Bethel University.

Christy Speicher graduated in 1985 and was a member of the 1985 state runner-up girls basketball team. She played multiple sports at Tri-State College that now goes by Trine University.

Speicher eventually moved out of Milford and lived in Indianapolis and Florida before residing in Toledo, where his wife is from. He credits visits to Veterans Affairs hospitals for assisting with his health. Speicher also works a routine of walking, doing squats and lifting dumbbells. Speicher says his main health issue is he can’t hear too well.

He has five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren scattered in the Great Lakes region.

“They live all over the place,” Speicher said.