OUTSTANDING COACH

Induction Year: 1998

John Zeller was born in the Medway area in 1923. Following in the footsteps of his father,Arthur, who starred at Olive Branch in 1913 and 1914, and cousin Philip Fogle, of the 1934 and 1935 O.B. teams, John also played at Olive Branch.

During the 1940-41 season he was high scorer on the O.B. team that won both league and tournament honors in the 10-team Clark County League. He was selected in both county and district tournament play to the top ten in all-star selections. During this time, a loss to Spring Valley by two points would keep them from the state playoff. During this time only sixteen teams would participate in the two divisions for state playoffs. He also lettered in baseball while at Olive Branch.

In 1943, with World War II well under way, he was inducted into the Army Air Corps. He served for 39 months, the last 18 of which were at an Air Corps supply base near Calcutta, India. John would leave the armed services with the rank of Technical Sergeant in 1946.

Upon his graduation from Wittenberg University in 1949, he would become employed as teacher and coach at Rockway Junior High. Serving for seven years, his basketball team won a county championship in 1953 and a baseball championship in 1956.

Returning to Olive Branch in 1956 his roles would include with coaching, teaching physical education and social studies. During his long tenure at O.B. his teams won many league and tournament basketball championships, as well as county titles in baseball. His basketball record would be 113 - 26 at O.B. John retired from Olive Branch after 35 years of teaching. Many would comment "When the players arrived at Tecumseh, they were very well prepared to play." John Zeller would be responsible for this.

In 1949, John married the former Patria Brown of Springfield and they have two sons, Terry and Tim. Terry is on the faculty at Tecumseh and serves as the girls' Varsity Basketball Coach. Tim is on the faculty at Springfield North High School.

The couple currently reside on Union Road in this school district and will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary this year. They closely follow the activities of their two grandchildren, John Zeller at Medway Elementary and Leslie Zeller, a senior at Tecumseh.