Marv Harshman

Marvel Keith Harshman (October 4, 1917 – April 12, 2013) was a college basketball coach, a head coach for forty years in the state of Washington at Pacific Lutheran University, Washington State University, and the University of Washington.

Born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Harshman moved to the Pacific Northwest as a child and graduated from Lake Stevens High School in Lake Stevens, Washington, north of Seattle.

He attended Pacific Lutheran University in Parkland, where he lettered thirteen times in four sports and graduated in 1942.

Harshman served three years in the U.S. Navy during World War II, then returned to PLU to coach.

A fullback, he was selected by the Chicago Cardinals in the fifteenth round (134th overall) of the 1942 NFL Draft.

While at his alma mater (1945–58), Harshman was also the head football coach from 1951 to 1957, compiling a .500 record, and also led the baseball team for the last five seasons.

He moved east to Washington State University in Pullman in 1958 to succeed Jack Friel and coached the Cougars for 13 seasons.

When Husky head coach Tex Winter left for the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1971, Harshman moved across the state to the University of Washington in Seattle.

He compiled a .580 overall record.

He was the coach of the gold-medal-winning U.S. team at the 1975 Pan American Games in Mexico City, and served on the U.S. Olympic Committee from 1975 to 1981.

Harshman was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year (1982, 1984) and NABC Coach of the Year for Division I basketball (1984).

Pressured by the university administration to step down, Harshman involuntarily retired from coaching at age 67 in 1985, following consecutive conference titles and NCAA tournament appearances.

Harshman was enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in April 1985 and was a member of the founding class of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.