Elmer "Yatch" O'Janpa

Elmer “Yatch” O’Janpa was a 1937 Graduate of Fairport Harding High, and attended Lincoln Memorial University after receiving a basketball scholarship. He became a local basketball legend playing on numerous teams, including the one that defeated the Harlem Globetrotters in 1941.

He was Fairport’s Basketball Coach in 1945 and 1946, and the Fairport Skippies bantam football coach from 1955 to 1960, leading the 1960 team to a National Championship. In 1960, the Fairport Civic Club selected him “Man of the Year”. In 1987, the News-Herald recognized Yatch as Fairport Harbor’s “Unsung Hero”. Yatch was a 20-year employee of the Fairport Schools until retirement, and a lifelong resident of the village he so dearly loved.