Thursday, January 28, 2010

Bill Mallory, Hall of Fame Football Coach


Bill Mallory, a 1953 graduate of Sandusky High School, had a long successful career as a college football coach -- just as he predicted. The caption of his graduation photo in the 1953 Fram yearbook (pictured above) stated that he "will coach the athletes of tomorrow," and he lived true to that message. (How often does a yearbook message match the future accomplishments?)

Graduating from Miami University (known as the "cradle of coaches") in 1957, Mallory eventually became head coach of his alma mater in 1969, compiling a 39-12 record in five seasons at Miami, including an undefeated record and a victory over Florida in the Tangerine Bowl in the 1973 season. After a successful five-year stint at Colorado, and four years at Northern Illinois, Coach Mallory moved on to Indiana University in 1984, becoming IU's winningest football coach in a 13-year tenure with the Hoosiers. He took an Indiana football program, seldom known for its quality of teams, and led them to six bowl games (when bowl games were still significant accomplishments). He came one game shy of making the Rose Bowl in the 1987 season, losing to the Michigan State Spartans at the end of the season; he is still remembered for his gracious speech in the winning team's locker room, with a pep talk for their upcoming Rose Bowl game.


Coach Mallory is a member of both the Miami University Athletic Hall of Fame and the Indiana Football Hall of Fame.

2 comments:

  1. I was fortunate to work during the summer months during high school with Bill for 3 years for the Erie County Highway dept. We were the first crew to paint the center line stipe on the county roads..He was a SUPER guy. Our foreman was Clay Blanke. Also on the crew were Jude Theibert, Bill Whinnery, Bill Crecelius and Colin Bloor. Others I have forgotten. We averaged One and a half miles per day. Clay made us an offer one time that if we could do that much in the morning we would go to the quarry and spend the afternoon swimming. Well we painted 3 miles that morning by running the time.

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  2. At sometime in the 50s Colin Bloor appeared on the natiional TV program "What's My Line" as "the guy who paints the center line on the highway."

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