Patrick Raymond Keitges

In Pat's early years, the family resided in Danbury, Iowa, where his father operated a small grocery store. Patrick attended St. Mary’s grade school. In 1948, the family moved to Holstein, Iowa. Pat graduated from Holstein High School in 1957 with honors in several sports. Holstein’s football team had nearly 3 full years (22 games in a row) of being undefeated, from his sophomore year through his senior year. In his senior year, he and teammate Larry Leinbaugh led the state in touchdowns with 19 each. Pat was second in scoring and was a state leader in rushing and averaged 11.8 yards per carry. In basketball, he was Honorable Mention All State. In baseball, Pat was selected to play on a Northwest Iowa All-Star team that barnstormed for two weeks. He led the team in hitting and hit four home runs in one game against Moville, Iowa. Pat hit .581 in his senior American Legion year.

Pat attended Morningside College where he played football, basketball and baseball. In the summer of 1958, he played semi-pro baseball for Wakefield, Nebraska in the Northeast Nebraska League, where he led the league in home runs. Pat transferred to Wayne State Teachers College where he lettered 3 years in baseball. He met his wife Carol Coleen Hout while at Wayne State and they were married in 1959. Pat went on to receive his Bachelor of Arts in Education in 1961. He began his teaching/coaching career at Columbus St. Bonaventure (SCOTUS) and enjoyed five successful seasons in football and track as Assistant Coach and Head Coach. Pat spent one year at Fremont Bergan High School as Head Coach, then became Assistant Coach to Larry Kramer at McCook Junior College in McCook, Nebraska. He received his Master's Degree in Education at Nebraska University in 1972. After four years as a successful Assistant and Head Coach, Pat became the Defensive Backfield Coach at Dakota State in Madison, South Dakota. Are year later, he became the Defensive Coordinator at Doane College in Crete, Nebraska and assisted Fred Beile in track and field. Pat's defenses were ranked nationally and the track teams were highly successful during his tenure as assistant.

A good friend and former Husker and Pittsburgh Steeler, Bob Hohn (now deceased), recruited Pat into the banking industry. They worked together at Commercial Federal in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Pat became Manager of that facility, and subsequently Western Regional Manager V.P. He became an avid racquetball player and won the Open Division of a three state regional tournament in 1983. Pat was then transferred to the headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska and was V.P. in charge of all transactions.

Pat enjoyed his children, step children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and always treasured his many friends. He loved sports and remained active in golf and fishing. Pat loved to dance as well. He attended the Lady of Loretto Catholic Church in Centennial, Colorado and lived in Aurora. Pat died "a coach at heart" and loved being close to his former student-athletes and coaches. He will be dearly missed by all who knew him.