Lee Tressel

Lee Tressel
Sport(s) Football
Biographical details
Born February 12, 1925
Ada, Ohio
Died April 16, 1981 (aged 56)
Berea, Ohio
Playing career
19431944
19461947
Baldwin–Wallace
Baldwin–Wallace
Position(s) Fullback
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
19581980 Baldwin–Wallace
Head coaching record
Overall 155526 (college)
7020 (high school)
Tournaments 32 (D-III playoffs)
Accomplishments and honors

Championships

1 NCAA Division III (1978)
4 OAC (1968, 19771978, 1980)

Awards

AFCA College Division Coach of the Year (1978)
5x OAC Coach of the Year (1968, 1974, 19771978, 1980)
College Football Hall of Fame
Inducted in 1996 (profile)

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 the most winning record as the head football coach as Baldwin–Wallace. His 1978 team won the NCAA Division III National Football Championship, achieved National Coach of that year, and in 1996 was inducted into College Football Hall of Fame.

Career

Tressel served as football coach and athletic director at Baldwin–Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. Tressel accumulated a 155526 record in 23 seasons (19581980) as the head football coach at 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 163 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 (19782000) and was later an assistant at Ohio State. Tressel was 56 at the time of his death from lung cancer.

Legacy

Panorama view of The George Finnie Stadium & Tressel Field

After Tressel's death in 1996 he was posthumously inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. 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. In 2012, the Football Field at George Finnie Stadium was dedicated to the Tressel Family.

Head coaching record

College

Year Team Overall Conference Standing Bowl/playoffs
Baldwin–Wallace Yellow Jackets (Independent) (1958–1961)
1958 Baldwin–Wallace 441
1959 Baldwin–Wallace 44
1960 Baldwin–Wallace 431
1961 Baldwin–Wallace 90
Baldwin–Wallace Yellow Jackets (Ohio Athletic Conference[1]) (1962–1980)
1962 Baldwin–Wallace 62 31 5th
1963 Baldwin–Wallace 63 32 7th
1964 Baldwin–Wallace 54 32 6th
1965 Baldwin–Wallace 431 23 10th
1966 Baldwin–Wallace 35 23 T8th
1967 Baldwin–Wallace 531 12 9th
1968 Baldwin–Wallace 81 40 1st
1969 Baldwin–Wallace 711 411 3rd
1970 Baldwin–Wallace 63 23 8th
1971 Baldwin–Wallace 91 41 2nd
1972 Baldwin–Wallace 72 32 T2nd (Red Division)
1973 Baldwin–Wallace 63 41 2nd (Red Division)
1974 Baldwin–Wallace 82 50 1st (Red Division)
1975 Baldwin–Wallace 72 41 T1st (Red Division)
1976 Baldwin–Wallace 72 50 1st (Blue Division)
1977 Baldwin–Wallace 91 50 1st (Blue Division)
1978 Baldwin–Wallace 1101 50 1st (Red Division) 30 NCAA Division III Playoffs
1979 Baldwin–Wallace 82 41 T1st (Red Division) 01 NCAA Division III Playoffs
1980 Baldwin–Wallace 101 50 T1st (Red Division) 01 NCAA Division III Playoffs
Baldwin–Wallace: 155526
Total: 155526
      National championship         Conference title         Conference division title

References

External links