John Herman Keller, Sr., public address announcer since the late 1970s at Central Catholic High School football and basketball games who was a football and baseball standout while a student there and who played in the Cincinnati Reds system, died Sunday of cardiac arrest. He was 71.

He and his wife, Joan, were watching a Tigers game on television at home in Toledo when he was stricken. He was pronounced dead at Mercy St. Anne Hospital.

Mr. Keller started announcing Central Catholic football games in 1978. Boys and then girls basketball duties followed. He was at the microphone through this year’s schedule.

“He projected well and enunciated well and had a good command of the king’s English,” his wife said. “He worked real hard to make sure the kids on the line in football were recognized on the P.A., not just the stars.”

Mr. Keller as a youngster idolized and emulated his brother, Dick, nine years his senior, who excelled on the Central Catholic football team and went on to play at the University of Notre Dame. Mr. Keller became a halfback, then quarterback of the Central Catholic football team. A star pitcher, he collected three no-hitters his senior season alone. He also played basketball.

He’d been slated to attend University of Toledo on a football scholarship after his 1961 graduation, but the Cincinnati Reds enticed him with a bonus, and he pitched minor league ball until 1966. His professional career was marred by injury and mishap.

“They say I blew a good education chasing fame. Well, they’re wrong,” Mr. Keller told The Blade as his pro career ended. “I got an education. It’s a different thing from memorizing facts from books. I learned things about people, what living is all about.”

Afterward, he worked for a title company and sold houses, insurance, and cars. He later was a courier for Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center.

“He could talk with anybody and enjoyed everybody’s company,” his wife said.

His son, John, Jr., was a star athlete at Central Catholic, played football for the University of North Carolina, and was on the 1996 U.S. Olympic handball team. In 2007, they became the first father and son inducted together into the City League athletic hall of fame. He and his late brother, Dick, were inducted into the Central Catholic athletic hall of fame in 1992.

He was born Aug. 13, 1943, to Lauretta and Herman Keller.

Surviving are his wife, Joan Vollmayer Keller, whom he married Nov. 21, 1964; son, John H., Jr.; daughter, Laura Keller Jones; sister, Ann Wing, and seven grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 2-8 p.m. Friday in the Coyle Funeral Home. The Central Catholic alumni glee club, of which he was president and a founder, is to perform a tribute at 6 p.m., followed by a Scripture service at 6:30 p.m. Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday in Little Flower Catholic Church, where the body will be after 10 a.m.

The family suggests tributes to Little Flower Church or Central Catholic.

Contact Mark Zaborney at: mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.

First Published June 3, 2015, 4:00 a.m.