| Lee Tressel | ||
|---|---|---|
| Sport(s) | Football | |
| Biographical details | ||
| Born | February 12, 1925 | |
| Place of birth | Ada, Ohio | |
| Died | April 16, 1981 (aged 56) | |
| Place of death | Berea, Ohio | |
| Playing career | ||
| 1943–1944, 1946–1947 | Baldwin–Wallace | |
| Position(s) | Fullback | |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | ||
| 1958–1980 | Baldwin–Wallace | |
| Head coaching record | ||
| Overall | 155–52–6 (college) 70–20 (high school) |
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| Tournaments | 3–2 (D-III playoffs) | |
| Accomplishments and honors | ||
| Championships | ||
| 1 NCAA Division III (1978) 4 OAC (1968, 1977–1978, 1980) |
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| Awards | ||
| AFCA College Division Coach of the Year (1978) 5x OAC Coach of the Year (1968, 1974, 1977–1978, 1980) |
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Inducted in 1996 (profile) |
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Lee Tressel (February 12, 1925 – April 16, 1981) was a football coach and athletic director at Baldwin–Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. Tressel accumulated a 155–52–6 record in 23 seasons (1958–1980) as the head football coach as Baldwin–Wallace. His 1978 team won the NCAA Division III National Football Championship and for his efforts, Tressel was named National Coach of the Year that championship season.
Before coaching at Baldwin–Wallace, Tressel was a successful high school head coach in Ohio, with stops at Ada High School, Massillon Washington High School, and Mentor High School. At Mentor, Tressel put together a 34-game winning streak, while compiling a 16–3 mark in two seasons at Massillon.
Tressel was married to Eloise Tressel, who worked as the athletic historian at Baldwin–Wallace. Tressel is the father of Jim Tressel, who was the head football coach at Ohio State University from 2001 through the 2010 season. Another son, Dick, was the head football coach at Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota for 23 seasons (1978–2000) and is now an assistant at Ohio State.
Tressel was 56 at the time of his death from lung cancer. He was posthumously inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1996. On the south side of the Baldwin–Wallace campus in Berea, there is a "Tressel Street" named in his honor. At the corners where Tressel Street starts and ends, at Bagley Road and E. Center Street, lay decorative street signs in honor of Lee and Eloise Tressel for their contributions to the Baldwin-Wallace campus.
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baldwin–Wallace Yellow Jackets (Ohio Athletic Conference) (1958–1980) | |||||||||
| 1958 | Baldwin–Wallace | 4–4–1 | |||||||
| 1959 | Baldwin–Wallace | 4–4 | |||||||
| 1960 | Baldwin–Wallace | 4–3–1 | |||||||
| 1961 | Baldwin–Wallace | 9–0 | |||||||
| 1962 | Baldwin–Wallace | 6–2 | 3–1 | 5th | |||||
| 1963 | Baldwin–Wallace | 6–3 | 3–2 | 7th | |||||
| 1964 | Baldwin–Wallace | 5–4 | 3–2 | 6th | |||||
| 1965 | Baldwin–Wallace | 4–3–1 | 2–3 | 10th | |||||
| 1966 | Baldwin–Wallace | 3–5 | 2–3 | T–8th | |||||
| 1967 | Baldwin–Wallace | 5–3–1 | 1–2 | 9th | |||||
| 1968 | Baldwin–Wallace | 8–1 | 4–0 | 1st | |||||
| 1969 | Baldwin–Wallace | 7–1–1 | 4–1–1 | 3rd | |||||
| 1970 | Baldwin–Wallace | 6–3 | 2–3 | 8th | |||||
| 1971 | Baldwin–Wallace | 9–1 | 4–1 | 2nd | |||||
| 1972 | Baldwin–Wallace | 7–2 | 3–2 | T–2nd (Red Division) | |||||
| 1973 | Baldwin–Wallace | 6–3 | 4–1 | 2nd (Red Division) | |||||
| 1974 | Baldwin–Wallace | 8–2 | 5–0 | 1st (Red Division) | |||||
| 1975 | Baldwin–Wallace | 7–2 | 4–1 | T–1st (Red Division) | |||||
| 1976 | Baldwin–Wallace | 7–2 | 5–0 | 1st (Blue Division) | |||||
| 1977 | Baldwin–Wallace | 9–1 | 5–0 | 1st (Blue Division) | |||||
| 1978 | Baldwin–Wallace | 11–0–1 | 5–0 | 1st (Red Division) | 3–0 NCAA Division III Playoffs | ||||
| 1979 | Baldwin–Wallace | 8–2 | 4–1 | T–1st (Red Division) | 0–1 NCAA Division III Playoffs | ||||
| 1980 | Baldwin–Wallace | 10–1 | 5–0 | T–1st (Red Division) | 0–1 NCAA Division III Playoffs | ||||
| Baldwin–Wallace: | 155–52–6 | ||||||||
| Total: | 155–52–6 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title | |||||||||
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