Obituaries
Longtime DHS Instructor Dies
Michael D. Koehler was Jim Thorpe's grandson, vital part of Deerfield High School community.
Michael D. Koehler, the grandson of Jim Thorpe and a high school and college football star himself, passed away in January. He was a longtime educator and coach at Deerfield High School and played a critical role in helping the Warriors win the Class 5A state football championship in 1975 as the team’s backfield coach, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Koehler was a teacher, guidance counselor and assistant football coach at DHS from 1965 to 1999, when he retired. He was inducted into the school’s hall of fame last fall.
“Mike was loved and revered by his students,” said Greg Royer, a former colleague and teacher at Deerfield, now retired. “All the kids wanted him as their guidance counselor because he was the most giving person I’ve ever known. He was someone they really looked up to, someone they wanted to be like.”
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