Frank Truitt

Frank Wilson Truitt, Jr., (April 4, 1925 – December 21, 2014) was a multi-sport collegiate coach and a veteran of World War II.

The 282nd Engineers built "pontoon bridges, Bailey bridges, and rafts [that were] essential for rapidly moving large numbers of infantry and tanks over the numerous water obstacles."

After graduating from Worthington High School in 1943, Truitt served in the 282nd Engineer Combat Battalion as part of General George S. Patton's Third Army and eventually rose to the rank of Staff Sergeant.

Truitt's battalion arrived in France on 25 December 1944 and saw action during the Battle of the Bulge while stationed in Luxembourg.

Truitt enrolled at Otterbein University in 1946 after serving overseas in the United States Army for 32 months.

While in college, Truitt helped found the Otterbein golf team, in addition to playing three years of varsity basketball.

He married fellow student Katharine Ellen "Kay" Turner on 16 June 1948 before graduating with Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts degrees in 1950.

He majored in both History and Government.

From 1951 to 1954, Truitt taught History, Government, and French and was the head basketball coach at Bloomingburg High School in Fayette County, Ohio.

His team won the county league title and the county tournament in both 1953 and 1954.

Truitt next taught and coached at Mount Gilead High School in Mount Gilead, Ohio.

His 1954-55 team finished 20-4.

After a stop at Columbus West Junior High School to teach physical education and coach the basketball team, Truitt became a teacher and the head basketball coach at Columbus North High School in Columbus, Ohio.

Among his noteworthy accomplishments, Truitt engineered the historic upset of Jerry Lucas's Middletown Middies basketball team in the Ohio 1958 Division AA state semifinals and helped coach the Ohio State men's basketball team to the 1960 NCAA Championship.

In 1958, Truitt's 24-0 North High Polar Bears advanced to the Division AA state semifinals, where they encountered Paul Walker's 24-0 Middletown Middies.

The Middies entered the semifinal matchup having won 76 straight games, including two consecutive state titles, and were led by future Ohio State Buckeye and NBA Hall of Famer Jerry Lucas, who was "generally considered the best high school player in the nation" and "the most heavily recruited high school player, with the possible exception of Wilt Chamberlain, to that time. A close contest the entire way, North trailed Middletown 48-43 as the game entered the fourth quarter in St. John Arena. North seized a 59-54 lead with just over a minute to play before Middletown made a furious comeback to take a 62-61 lead with ten seconds left. North's Eddie Clark drove past Jerry Lucas in the game's final seconds to score the game-winning layup and secure a 63-62 victory for the Polar Bears. It was an upset of historic proportions. In fact, some still consider North's victory over Middletown as "the biggest upset in Ohio high school basketball history."

The Polar Bears ultimately lost to Cleveland East Tech in the state championship game in the second and final (sudden-death) overtime, 50-48.

North had been ahead 48-46 with six seconds remaining in regulation before Jim Stone hit a 35-footer for East Tech to send the game to overtime.

Neither team scored in the first overtime.

By the rules of the day, the second overtime was played as sudden-death.

North captured the first possession in the second overtime but turned the ball over, enabling Gerald Warren to hit the game winner on East Tech's first possession in double overtime.

The sudden-death format of the second overtime was retired following this game.

Following the 1957-58 season with the Polar Bears, Truitt was, at least for the moment, named head basketball coach at Otterbein on 3 May 1958.

But Floyd Stahl retired as Ohio State University's head basketball coach, prompting then-assistant Fred Taylor to assume the head coaching position at Ohio State.

Taylor's promotion to head coach left the freshman coach's position vacant.

Ultimately, Truitt had hoped to join the staff at Ohio State and conditionally accepted the Otterbein position.

Said Truitt at the time, "I accepted the Otterbein position contingent on being released if the job at Ohio State opened up; it was actually written in the contract so there was no misunderstanding."

The new appointment at Ohio State as the freshman coach under Taylor enabled Truitt to unite with Middletown's Jerry Lucas, who had previously committed to play at Ohio State.

Also recruited to join the Buckeyes for the 1958-59 season were John Havlicek, Mel Nowell, and Bob Knight, among others.

The Ohio State basketball program enjoyed its most successful three-year stretch in program history shortly thereafter, in which it reached three consecutive NCAA championship games.

The Buckeyes defeated the then-defending champion California Golden Bears 77-55 to win the 1960 NCAA Championship but lost to the Cincinnati Bearcats in the championship game in each of the next two seasons.

To date, the 1960 NCAA Championship remains the only basketball national title in school history.

In those days, Truitt served not only as the freshman team's head coach, but also as an assistant to the varsity team, as the varsity team's lead scout, and as the chief recruiter.

His "charm as a recruiter" helped Truitt recruit future AP Player of the Year Gary Bradds, and future All American Bill Hosket, Jr. among others.

Once players were on campus as freshmen, Truitt was "responsible [for helping] them adjust to college life."

Said Taylor, "[Frank] gave the kids the most precious gift one person can give another: he gave them time. He really cared about the players, and they knew that."

Said Hosket, "Frank was the best teacher of individual skills I've ever been around.

Also during this time, Truitt earned a master’s degree in physical education from Ohio State in 1962.

His office in St. John Arena was just down the hall from the office of Woody Hayes, the longtime coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes football team.

During the season, Truitt, who Taylor deemed to have "an extremely keen analytical basketball mind" often traveled around to scout other teams.