OUTSTANDING COACH

Induction Year: 1994

Frank Shannon was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, in 1917. At an early age he moved here to the Ohio Masonic Home. He attended Springfield High School where he played 2 years of basketball. In summers he played American Legion baseball.

In 1935 he enrolled in Wittenberg College and played football, basketball, and in his 3 years of basketball he was the leading scorer for 2 years, was named All-Ohio for 2 years, and all-conference for 2 years. He set the single-game scoring record of 24 points as a sophomore.

He played baseball for 3 years, and as a pitcher he won 14 and lost 4. He was offered a contract by the Cleveland Indians upon graduation from Wittenberg. Before he could join the team, he was drafted for World War Il as a After serving in General MacArthur's G-2 division in the southwest Pacific, he was discharged as a Major in 1946.

In 1944 Frank married Mary Childress, and they had four sons in the next six year. Frank became player-coach with the Youngstown Bears in the National Basketball League, a forerunner of the N.B.A.

He earned an M.A. from the University of Alabama in 1952. Frank coached at 5 Ohio high schools: Cable, Selma, Olive Branch, Tecumseh, and Urbana, earning a 208 - 76 record. While at Olive Branch and Tecumseh, his teams had a record of 166 wins and 32 losses. 10 losses came in the first year. N.B.A. players Dave Zeller and Wayne Embry were on his Tecumseh High School teams.

As a high-school coach, his teams won 6 straight Clark County league titles, 6 straight Clark County Tournament titles, won 4 district championships, won 3 straight Troy District championships, and was runner-up once.

He coached the North team in the North-South All-American game in Murray, Kentucky, in 1955. He was elected President of the Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association: During his presidency, 1957-58, he initiated the Ohio North-South All-Star game.

In 1959 Frank accepted a coaching position at Ohio Wesleyan University where he remained until his retirement 21 years later. Two of his basketball players at Ohio Wesleyan were Barry Clemens, who was drafted in the third round by the New York Knicks and played 1 years in the NBA; another of Franks prayers, Tates Locke, made a name for himself in the NBA as the coach of Buffalo.

Frank also coached the tennis team, and in a six-year period his teams won five O.A.C. championships and was runner-up once. Frank was named Ohio College Coach of the year in 1962, the same year his team won the O.A.C. championship with a record of 21-3, a record which stood unchallenged until last season. He was inducted into Ohio Wesleyan's Hall of Fame in 1979. In 1988 he was inducted into Wittenberg's Hall of Honor. This year he was inducted into the Ohio High School Basketball Coach's Hall of Fame.

In his 39 years of coaching Frank coached at every level: junior high, senior high varsity and reserve, A.A.U military, college, and professional, with over 800 victories.