Ray Mears
Springfield, Ohio — Two years after the 1961 Wittenberg men's basketball team led by Head Coach Ray Mears and star forward Al Thrasher, class of 1964, was collectively inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame & Museum, the Tiger legends will be honored individually at the organization's third annual induction ceremony.
Mears and Thrasher are two of the 22 players, coaches, teams and officials from around the state who will be inducted during a dinner and ceremony at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 17, at the Columbus Convention Center. The university's national championship teams of 1961 and 1977 were among the group honored during the inaugural induction ceremony of the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame & Museum in 2006.
Mears, the man credited with bringing Wittenberg men's basketball into national prominence, passed away in June 2007 at the age of 80. Also the winningest coach in University of Tennessee men's basketball history, Mears took the reins of Wittenberg's struggling program in 1956 and immediately turned the Tigers into the small college powerhouse of today.
A native of Dover, Ohio, and a 1949 graduate of Miami University, Mears compiled a 121-23 record in six years in Springfield, good for an astounding .840 winning percentage. His teams captured three Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) regular season titles, three OAC Tournament titles and the 1961 NCAA College Division crown. The Tigers were ranked No. 1 in the nation in team defense four times in his six seasons at Wittenberg.
His arrival on the Wittenberg sidelines set the stage for a winning run that now numbers more than 50 years. The Tigers have not suffered a losing season since Mears arrived on campus, and today the program ranks No. 1 in NCAA Division III history for total wins, winning percentage, national tournament appearances, tournament wins and Final Four appearances.
Mears left Wittenberg in 1963 to become head coach at the University of Tennessee. He led the Volunteers to seven national tournament appearances and three Southeastern Conference (SEC) titles, and Mears was named SEC Coach of the Year in 1967. He had a 14-year record of 278-112 at Tennessee and his overall collegiate coaching record was 399-135, good for a .747 winning percentage, which ranks 17th in NCAA history.
Al Thrasher
Mears, a 1987 Wittenberg Athletics Hall of Honor inductee, later served as director of athletics at the University of Tennessee-Martin from 1980-90. He also was the recipient of the 1996 Golden Anniversary Award, given by the National Association of Basketball Coaches to a coach who has demonstrated 50 years of outstanding service to the game of basketball.
A native of Urbana, Ohio, Thrasher was a freshman on that 1961 national championship team before serving as captain each of the next three years. The Tigers compiled a four-year record of 90-16 with Thrasher on the roster, winning three conference titles and advancing all the way to the national championship game again in 1963 before losing by two points to South Dakota State in the final.
More than 40 years after becoming the first Wittenberg player to score 500 points in a season, Thrasher still ranks ninth in school history with 788 rebounds, fifth in career rebounds per game at 8.5, 11th in season points per game at 17.9 in 1962-63 and 14th in career points with 1,288. A two-time All-American and two-time all-conference honoree, Thrasher also earned the OAC Player of the Year award in 1963.
Don Henderson, Wittenberg class of 1954, is part of the seven-person executive board for the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame & Museum, which does not yet have an official physical location. Tickets for the induction dinner and ceremony are available for $75, and can be purchased at http://www.ohiohoopzone.com or by calling (614) 792-7748. Corporate and private tables and sponsorship opportunities are also available.
Written By: Ryan Maurer
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