Jerry Sigler

Birthdate: Nov. 23, 1945 
Birthplace: Toledo, Ohio
High School: Eastwood H.S., Pemberville, O. (1963)
College: Bowling Green State University (1970)

Jerry Sigler had reason to wonder about his future in 1975 when he agreed to coach the girls jayvee basketball team at Northview High School in Sylvania. 

“The athletic director who hired me back then told me I'd be lucky to last one year because I was coaching girls,” Sigler recalled in 2013 when he retired after 37 years as the varsity coach. What the AD didn't know was the Sigler could communicate very well with teen-age girls.

His teams won 675 games and lost 177, making him the third winningest prep girls coach in Ohio behind Dave Butcher of Pickerington and Ed Zink of Beavercreek. Six times the Sylvania squad got through the regular season unbeaten and three times – in 1978, 2004 and 2005 – the LadyKats of Lucas County advanced to the state semifinals.

Northview won nine Great Lakes League championships, nine more in the Northern Lakes League and 28 sectional titles. During a three-year period between 2002 and 2005, Northview had a combined 75-5 record.

The Sylvania squad finished among the top 10 in the final Associated Press state rankings five times. Sigler was named Ohio AP Division I Coach of the Year in 1979 and 2004.