Coach wins Make-A-Difference Award

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Making a difference through sports; that's what one Wabash Valley man has done for years. He is using football to change lives. But, he's also a member of the News 10 family.

Around News 10 Mike Latta is our chief photographer. He teaches young reporters skills they'll use for the rest of their careers.

But outside of the office, he's just “coach.” For the past nine years, Mike has stood on the sidelines coaching youth football for the Vigo County Youth Football League.

"Mike is an unusual guy, he likes working with the little guys. I think the one thing Mike dislikes the most is the score keeping,” Jim Lewis of the Vigo County Youth Football League said.

When he's out on the field, he's teaching absolute beginners how to play a game he's passionate about. He combines old school techniques with some unorthodox style.

"When you get a group of kids together and they know very little about football and you can actually get a play off and they know what they're doing and to see that and then see the excitement on their faces when they run or they make a good tackle or whatever the case may be, a good block. I mean that does it,” Mike said.

Beyond football, his little gridiron giants learn something more valuable from coach Mike.

"The second thing that Mike teaches them is how to be good men. He's an example himself of how to be a good man. You know how to grow up and how to treat a wife and children and everything,” Lewis said about Mike.

For his contributions, not just to football but the community we caught up with Mike at halftime of a recent game and presented him with our September Make-A-Difference award.