Tippy Dye

Born William Henry Harrison Dye - his nickname was taken from the "Tippecanoe" reference attached to his presidential namesake. Dye grew up in Pomeroy, Ohio, and was an outstanding player at Pomeroy High School and Ohio State University. He served as guard, playmaker, and defensive specialist on three OSU teams that compiled a 38-21 record and a 20-17 mark in the league. Dye was first-team All-Big Ten as a junior and senior and also played baseball and quarterbacked the OSU football team to three victories over Michigan.

Tippy Dye graduated from OSU in 1937 and served as head coach at Brown University (1942-46) and OSU (1946-50), winning the Big Ten title with a 22-4 record in 1949-50. He coached at the University of Washington for nine years, compiling a 158-91 record with six Pac-Ten titles and the school’s only Final Four appearance, before serving as athletics director at Wichita, Nebraska, and Northwestern. His overall coaching record for 14 seasons was 222-132. His teams had 10 winning seasons.

Tippy Dye passed away April 11, 2012, in California at the age of 97. Read his obituary here.