A long-time Palatine Pirate

For nearly 40 years, Pat Leafe Burke has been working with Palatine athletes in one capacity or another.

Published By John Juettner on 6/04/2010

In addition to working with the poms, cheerleading and flags teams at Palatine, Pat Leafe Burke also introduced the Adventure Education program to the physical education department when she was a P.E. teacher at the high school.
Story and Photo By: Alex Mayster
      Pat Leafe Burke coincidentally ended up in the town of Palatine after the high school agreed to hire both her and her husband, John.
      That was in the Fall of 1970.
      Burke was hired as a physical education teacher and was eventually head of the high school’s spirit program, which consisted of pom-pons, cheerleading and flags.
      Nearly 40 years – and nine state championships – later, Burke remains at the school in which she will be forever engrained.
      “Pat Leafe Burke really is what the whole athletic office is about,” Palatine High School Athletic Director Jerry Dobbs said. “That’s the main reason, I feel, that she’s in the Palatine Athletic Hall of Fame; because of everything that she has done for Palatine High School.
      “And she continues to do it.”
      The 2001 inductee said getting into the hall of fame was one of the proudest moments in her life. Although Burke had been extremely successful with poms, her teams were still considered activities at that time.
      “For me to get inducted as somebody who helped work with athletics, it was a big deal,” she said.
      Burke retired from teaching and coaching the next year, but stayed involved in high school athletics. She spent time video taping football and basketball games for Prospect High School, where she was part of two football state championships.
      But Burke began to get the itch to return to Palatine.
      She joked to the athletic department that if the sports coordinator position ever opened, she would be interested; but Burke didn’t think they would take her seriously.
      “And I didn’t think I’d ever get it,” she said.
      Burke did get the position, and returned to Palatine in 2005.
      As sports coordinator, Burke is responsible scheduling, setting up for sporting events, supervising games, etc. She helps out wherever needed, and because she is no longer teaching and coaching, has the time to put in more hours than other are able to spend.
      Stepping away from the classroom has also given Burke the chance to reflect back on her career.
      After graduating from Eastern Illinois, Burke came to Palatine following a year of teaching in Mattoon.
      She was hired by then principal, Leonard Newendorf, at the original high school; which currently houses the park district.
      “Where the jail is, that was our offices,” Burke said. “Where they host the village meetings, that was our original dance room.”
      The dance rooms are where Burke and her teams spent countless hours practicing. All the hard work paid off in 1980, when the poms team won Palatine’s first state championship in 1980.
      Burke’s theory on coaching may have been what led her to continued success.
      “The object in high school is to get the most out of the kids so that they’re happy and they’re proud of what they’ve done,” she said. “To me that is what you’re teaching. Poms and cheerleading and flags, that was a vehicle for teaching good sportsmanship, how to be a time manager, how to work hard, how to get the most out of yourself.
      “I would have kids staying after practice, talking for hours. But it’s OK. When I got into teaching I thought that’s what teaching was about.”
      Although she has a great coaching career, Burke’s success wasn’t limited to coaching.
      As a P.E. teacher, she introduced the Adventure Education program to the department.
      Adventure Ed is program that focuses on teamwork and learning how to work well with others. The goal of the class is to learn about yourself and the other around you.
      “You spend a lot of time getting to know each other,” Burke said. “It’s good because you learn to accept people for who they are and not what you want them to be.
      “The most fun I had was watching my athletes work with kids who everybody else said were no good. And they would be a riot in our class, because they had fun and people accepted them for who they were.”
      Since Burke’s retirement from teaching, the Adventure Education program is still going strong at Palatine.
      The spirit program is as well; and a giant plaque hanging above the gym floor will forever commemorate her nine state championships.
      While Burke may take a back seat to today’s achievements in her current role with the athletic office, her continually growing legacy will forever be a part of Palatine High School.