By JOE HOLTZAPFEL
Charles Kautz served as the coach of the Ironton football team from 1956 to 1960. Coach Kautz was only 31 when he took over the reins of the Fighting Tigers program at Ironton.
He had previously been head coach at Ceredo-Kenova and Rock Hill. He was a 1943 graduate of Huntington High School. He attended Marshall University where he earned his BA and MA in education.
Coach Kautz's record at Ironton was 26-19-1. His best year was 1959 when he went 7 and 2. I remember this year well as I didn't miss a game. Kautz spent one more year at Ironton and then moved on to his Alma Mater Marshall in 1961 as an asst. football coach.
In 1969 he became the athletic director for the Thundering Herd. Kautz inherited a program with deteriorating facilities and started restoring old Fairfiled Stadium with new everything including the newest thing in sports: Astroturf.
When it looked like things were about to turn around at the Huntington school, tragedy of heart wrenching proportions hit the university and everyone in the Tri-State area. Marshall had to travel to East Carolina for an away game.
On the return flight, in a very foggy and rainy weather, Southern Airlines Flight 932 carrying the Marshall football team its coaches and many of their avid supporters along with AD Charles Kautz crashed in the hills of Wayne County killing all aboard.
Charles Kautz was 45 years old. Just like other men who had been fortunate to coach at Ironton, he made his mark in sports at the collegiate level. It's no telling how far he would have went had it not been for the unfortunate tragedy.
I watched many of Coach Kautz's games. The one that stands out the most in my memory was the game at Lexington Lafayette in 1958. Ironton won that one on the road by a score of 26-0. The player I also remember most in that game was Charles "Butch" Fletcher.
I also remember that drive home on old route 60 in the fog and rain. I didn't think I would ever get home. Funny how things like that stands out.
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