John Horan

Birthdate: November 24, 1932
Birthplace: Minneapolis, MN
High School: St. Thomas HS, St. Paul, MN (1951)
College: University of Dayton (1955)
Year Inducted: 2019
Died: November 14, 1980.

The University of Dayton recruited John Horan from St. Paul, Minn., in 1951 and the slender 6-foot-8 center-forward who became known as “The Vertical Hyphen” delivered four productive seasons.

He was a key player on squads that produced a cumulative 94-29 record and earned a national reputation. Horan started at forward as a freshman in a rare season when UD played in both the National Invitation Tournament and the NCAA Championship. The Flyers won three games in the NIT before losing to LaSalle in the championship game. Then they lost to Illinois in an NCAA Tournament first round game.

Horan moved to center as a sophomore following the graduation of All-American Monk Meineke and went back to forward as a junior and senior when 7-foot Bill Uhl became the center.

The Flyers played two NIT games in Horan's junior year and advanced again to the NIT championship game in his senior year, losing to Duquesne.

Horan scored 1,757 points and is still the school's all-time leading rebounder with a 1,341 total.  His career averages were 14.6 points and 11.2 rebounds.