PENDLETON — Long-time Pendleton Heights football coach John Broughton will be inducted into the Indiana Football Hall of Fame in November.
The Hall voted earlier this month to induct the former Arabians coach, who spent 42 years, including 40 as head coach, at Pendleton Heights. He coached high school football for 44 years, including one season at Bloomington South — where he was part of the staff of the 1972 state championship team. He also coached one season in Kentucky.
“I was just surprised and shocked and humbled,” Broughton said of learning about the honor.
Broughton played high school football for Hall of Famer Pat O’Neill in Lawrenceburg. O’Neill was inducted in the inaugural year of the Hall, 1973.
“They put nine coaches in the first year, and he was one of them,” Broughton recalled. “I knew about the Hall of Fame, but I never dreamed to be at that level. (Coach O’Neill) was a great influence on me as a coach and as a person.”
As the Arabians’ head coach, Broughton won 226 games, placing him 37th all-time on the Indiana high school football win list. His teams won 10 conference titles and two sectionals (2010, 2011). He led the Arabians to undefeated regular seasons in 1989 and 1998 and was honored as an Indiana Football All-Star head coach in 1990.
“It’s been a fun ride,” Broughton, who retired from Pendleton Heights after the 2015 season, said. “I’ve always said I never worked a day in my life. I loved coaching football and I loved working with young people and to see them develop as people as well as on the football field.”
The school’s athletic department will recognize Broughton at halftime of the home football game against Delta on Oct. 4.
According to a press release sent out by the school’s athletic department, more details for the Hall of Fame induction banquet will be made available in coming weeks.
