John William Borts, age 90, of Colfax, Iowa, passed away on June 6, 2025, surrounded by his family at home. John’s family will greet friends for visitation on Wednesday, June 11, at Coburn Funeral Home in Colfax from 5:00 - 8:00 PM. A funeral service will be held on Thursday, June 12, at the Colfax United Methodist Church at 10:30 AM. Following the service a burial will be held at Colfax Cemetery with Military Honors. The family will host a luncheon at the Methodist Church following the burial. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the family for a memorial to be determined. Cards can be sent to “Coburn Funeral Home, Attn: John Borts, 24 W Howard St, Colfax, Iowa 50054.”

The son of Russell Borts and Claudine (Webb) Moore, John was born on June 8, 1934, in Colo, Iowa. He grew up in the Colfax area. John graduated in 1952 from Colfax High School. On March 9, 1956, he married the love of his life, Alice Cross at the Colfax United Methodist Church and together built a beautiful life and family for 69 years. John spent his adult life proudly serving his country in the Army and in the Army National Guard for 30 years, retiring with the rank of Command Sergeant Major. He worked at Maytag and retired after 40 years.

John was highly involved in athletics and other community activities. He participated in football, basketball and track & field at Colfax High School. He also joined the Colfax Boxing Club as a teenager. Boxing is the sport that he had great success in and became well-known for. His boxing accomplishments included 6 Iowa Golden Gloves Boxing Championships. He would later join the U.S. Army Boxing Team while stationed in Europe. He traveled Europe and had an undefeated record beating many of the other European national champions and winning a European International Tournament. He is an inductee into the Iowa Amateur Boxing Association Hall of Fame. John was also a member of the Army track team where he had great success as a hurdler winning all but one race.

His community involvement included assisting the local track teams with hurdles, high jump and pole vault. He was the race starter for the high school track meets. He coached Little League baseball including his son’s teams for many years. He was a member of the football sideline chain gang for 50 years. He was recognized by the Iowa High School Football Coaches Association and University of Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz for his distinguished service. He coached at the local boxing club helping to prepare boxers for the annual Golden Gloves. He was a Colfax City Council member. He was a United Methodist Church Sunday School teacher, a choir member and a lay minister. In John’s retirement years, he stayed busy as a plumber and electrician with George and Leroy Dickerson as well as volunteering as a repairman at Trainland USA with his long time friend Red Atwood.

Although John was very involved in the community, his family was always his highest priority. As a family member you could count on John being at your sporting event. He went from watching his children play to seeing his grandkids play and even his great grandkids. An energetic man who was very outgoing and never met a stranger. John was a family man through and through. His family recalls memories of fixing cars with their Dad after a long day at work, talking about sporting memories, working on fixing up their houses, and his unwavering support throughout the years. He loved to mow the lawn, watch western movies and sing old folk songs.

Those left to honor John’s memory include his wife, Alice (Cross) Borts; his children, John (Deanna) Borts, Tony (Carol) Borts, Lynda (Dave) Stanford, Joyce (Mike) Sharp, and Jeff (Barb) Borts; his brother, George (Elaine) Moore; a sister-in-law, Linda Cross; a step brother-in-law, Gary Tilton; 11 grandchildren, 27 great grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.

Preceding John in death were his parents, Russell Borts and Claudine (Earl) Moore; parents-in-law, Leanna and Gale Tilton; a sister-in-law, Donna (Joe) Hadsall; a brother-in-law, Wayne Cross; and his siblings Doris Mae (Morris) Weikert and LeRoy (Barb) Borts.