Tag: Basketball

Bio – Miller, Charles E.

Photo by Jim Warner
  • B.A. West Virginia Wesleyan College, 1966
  • M.A. West Virginia University

Served

  • Assistant Coach of Men’s Basketball 1974-1977
  • Head Basketball Coach 1992-2005

Taught:

  • Assistant Professor of Education 1974-1977
  • Assistant Professor of Education 1992-2005
  • Assistant Professor of Education and Coach of Men’s Basketball, Emeritus 2005-2020

Notes:

  • He and his wife, Lexie, were Residence Hall staff in Fleming
  • Was a member of Hank Ellis’s Basketball squad from 1962-66
  • WVIAC champion in the broad jump 1966
  • WVIAC Most Valuable Player in the 1966 state tournament
  • Head Coach at Lake Forest (IL) College from 1978-1991
  • WVWC Athletic Hall of Fame 2013

Sources:

  • Catalog
  • West Virginia Wesleyan Sundial News, June 1974

Bio – Ellis, Franklin Clay “Hank”

Born: August 18, 1921 (Bluefield, WV)

Died: October 29, 2015 (Buckhannon, WV)

Education:

  • B.S. West Virginia Wesleyan College, 1943
  • M.A. West Virginia University, 1947

Served:

  • Coach of Baseball 
  • Coach of Basketball
  • Coach of Golf
  • Athletic Director

Taught:

  • Assistant Professor of Physical Education and Coach of Basketball 1950-1956
  • Associate Professor of Physical Education and Coach of Basketball 1957-1960
  • Professor of Health and Physical Education 1960-1986
  • Professor of Health and Physical Education and Coach of Baseball Emeritus 1987-2015

Notes:

  • 1942-67 Naval Reserve, retiring as a Lieutenant Commander
  • 1944 (May) to 1945 (March) Commanding Officer on USS LCT 710, which landed elements of the 50th Signal Battalion on Utah Beach on D-Day (June 6, 1944) (LCT – Landing Craft Tank)
  • 1944 (June) Made D-Day landing on Utah Beach, Normandy
  • 1945 (June) Gunnery Officer on USS LCI 728 in Pearl Harbor, HI. (LCI – Landing Craft Infantry)
  • 1947-50 U.S. Olympic Basketball Committee
  • 1949 Taught and Coached at Martins Ferry High School
  • 1986 – The Baseball Field at West Virginia was named in honor of Franklin Clay “Hank” Ellis. [1986 Sundial Spring/Summer p.13]
  • 1959 West Virginia Coach of the Year in Basketball 
  • Named to the All-Time WVIAC Basketball Team as both a player and a coach,
  • Member of the WV Sportswriters Hall of Fame. 

Sources:

  • Catalogs
  • Murmurmontis
  • Sundials

March Madness is Nothing New

 

Gymnasium

It is time for March Madness!

The game of basketball began in 1891, and less than 25 years later had already become quite a competitive sport among high schools and colleges.

The West Virginia boys’ high school basketball tournament began in Buckhannon on March 21, 1914.  The Gymnasium had been built in 1912, and was considered to be the largest and finest in the state of West Virginia.

That year, Elkins and Wheeling each claimed to be the best in the state, and West Virginia Wesleyan issued an invitation to come and settle the matter. Elkins emerged victorious and became the first “State Champions.”

The following year, 1915, Wesleyan athletic director Harry Stansbury contacted high schools all over West Virginia, inviting them to participate in an open tournament for the state basketball title. Fourteen teams answered the call, and the building of a sports tradition was under way.

The Gymnasium stood until it was razed in 1974 – the year that the John D. Rockefeller IV Physical Education Center opened.

Gym Marker