John Oldham (basketball)

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John Oldham
Personal information
Born(1923-06-22)June 22, 1923
Fort Wayne Pistons
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points
926 (7.3 ppg)
Rebounds242 (3.6 rpg)
Assists226 (1.8 apg)
Stats Edit this at Wikidata at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

John Oldham (June 22, 1923 – November 23, 2020) was an American college and professional

Fort Wayne Pistons. Oldham went into coaching in 1952 at College High School in Bowling Green, Kentucky. In 1955 he became coach of the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles men's basketball and led the team to three conference championships. He returned to WKU in 1964 to coach the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball team, leading them to four NCAA tournaments, one NIT, and winning four Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) championships. In 1971 Oldham was promoted to athletic director at WKU, a position he held until 1986. During his tenure the university won six OVC and one Sun Belt Conference
All-Sports Championship. After retirement he was elected to the Bowling Green City Commission.

Career

Oldham came to

Fort Wayne Pistons of the National Basketball Association.[2]

In 1952 he began his coaching career at College High School in Bowling Green, KY. In his first year as coach, he led the boys' basketball team to the state tournament.[3]

Oldham was hired to coach

1971 NCAA tournament to the Final Four and finished third overall.[5] Their third-place finish was later vacated by the NCAA due to allegations that one of their players, Jim McDaniels, had signed a professional contract prior to the end of the season.[6] He was named Ohio Valley Conference coach of the year four times.[4]

In 1971 Oldham was named Athletic Director for WKU, and served in that position until his retirement in 1986. During his tenure as AD, WKU won six OVC All-Sports Championships and one Sun Belt Conference All-Sports Championship. He oversaw the football program upgrading from NCAA Division 2 to Division 1AA in 1978, the school leaving the OVC and joining the Sun Belt Conference in 1982, and the Western Kentucky Lady Toppers basketball team becoming one of the top programs in the country. He also hired the school's first African American Head Coach, Clem Haskins as men's basketball coach, in 1980. He has been inducted into the Lions Club Kentucky High School Hall of Fame (1969), Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame (1986), Ohio Valley Conference Hall of Fame (1989), Kentucky High School Hall of Fame (1990), Tennessee Tech Sports Hall of Fame (1990) and WKU Athletic Hall of Fame (1991).[3]

In 1991 Oldham was elected to the Bowling Green City Commission and was re-elected twice, serving as Commissioner through December 1998.[7]

Oldham died at Bowling Green on November 23, 2020, at the age of 97. He was due to be buried in the city's Fairview Cemetery with military honours on November 30.[8]

Cultural impact

The 1971

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers NCAA Final-4 basketball team was the first non-historically black Kentucky collegiate basketball team to start five African-American players. Coach Oldham started Clarence Glover, Jim McDaniels, Jim Rose, Jerry Dunn and Rex Bailey. Oldham was pressured not to start all five together, but said "they are my best five players."[9]

The concept of WKU's Red Towel athletics logo was developed by John Oldham in 1971, based on Ed Diddle's use of a red towel while coaching games.[10]

In 1980 Oldham hired the first African-American head coach in school history, when he named Clem Haskins basketball coach.[11]

On December 27, 2012, WKU honored Oldham in a pregame ceremony in which the court at

EA Diddle Arena was named "John Oldham Court."[12] Oldham was a player, basketball coach, and athletic director during his time at WKU.[13]

Career playing statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

NBA

Source[14]

Regular season

Year Team GP FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
1949–50 Fort Wayne 59 .298 .710 – 1.7 6.1
1950–51 Fort Wayne 68 .333 .586 3.6 1.9 8.4
Career 127 .319 .627 3.6 1.8 7.3

Playoffs

Year Team GP FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
1950 Fort Wayne 4 .444 .765 – 1.0 9.3
1951 Fort Wayne 3 .375 .500 1.7 1.7 5.7
Career 7 .419 .667 1.7 1.3 7.7

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles[15] (Ohio Valley Conference) (1955–1964)
1955–56 Tennessee Tech 14–7 7–3 T–1st
1956–57 Tennessee Tech 9–11 1–9 6th
1957–58 Tennessee Tech 17–9 8–2 1st NCAA University Division First Round
1958–59 Tennessee Tech 16–9 7–5 3rd
1959–60 Tennessee Tech 13–9 7–4 3rd
1960–61 Tennessee Tech 6–13 3–9 6th
1961–62 Tennessee Tech 16–6 7–5 T–2nd
1962–63 Tennessee Tech 16–8 8–4 T–1st NCAA University Division First Round
1963–64 Tennessee Tech 11–11 7–7 T–4th
Tennessee Tech: 118–83 (.587) 55–48 (.534)
Western Kentucky Hilltoppers[16] (Ohio Valley Conference) (1964–1971)
1964–65
Western Kentucky
 18–9 10–4 2nd NIT Second Round
1965–66 Western Kentucky 25–3 14–0 1st NCAA University Division Regional Third Place
1966–67 Western Kentucky 23–3 13–1 1st NCAA University Division First Round
1967–68 Western Kentucky 18–7 9–5 3rd
1968–69 Western Kentucky 16–10 9–5 3rd
1969–70 Western Kentucky 22–3 14–0 1st NCAA University Division First Round
1970–71 Western Kentucky 24–6 12–2 1st NCAA University Division Third Place*
Western Kentucky: 146–41 (.781) 81–17 (.827)
Total: 264–124 (.680)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

* 1971 NCAA Tournament participation later vacated by the NCAA

See also

  • List of NCAA Division I Men's Final Four appearances by coach

References

  1. ^ Ruby, Earl (1979). Red Towel Territory : A History of Athletics at Western Kentucky University. American National Bank and Trust Co.
  2. ^ WKU Men's Basketball Media Guide: History Archived July 18, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on June 30, 2009.
  3. ^ a b "Mr. John Oldham". Western Kentucky University. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
  4. ^ a b "John Oldham Coaching Record".Retrieved on August 23, 2018.
  5. ^ "Mr. John Oldham". Western Kentucky University Alumni Association.
  6. New York Times
    .
  7. ^ "John O Oldham". Bowling Green Daily News. BG Daily News. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  8. ^ Frakes, Jason. "John Oldham, coach of WKU's 1971 Final Four basketball team, dies at age 97". The Courier-Journal. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
  9. ^ Pratt, Elliott. "Standing Alone: WKU's 1971 Final Four team remains in a league of its own". College Heights Herald. WKU Herald. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  10. ^ "The Red Towel". Western Kentucky University. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
  11. ISBN 978-0813116204
    .
  12. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 21, 2013. Retrieved January 2, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ^ "#WKU Legend John Oldham Paints Name on New John Oldham Court in E.A. Diddle Arena" – WKU Sports
  14. Basketball Reference. Sports Reference
    . Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  15. ^ 2019–2020 Tennessee Tech Men's Basketball Media Guide retrieved 2 July 2020
  16. ^ 2019–2020 WKU Basketball Media Guide retrieved 21 April 2020

External links

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