Glenn Curtis 1894-1958

All newspaper articles were accessed via Newspapers.com unless otherwise noted.

[1] Glenn Melba Curtis and Mary Smith, Marriage Certificate, December 24, 1917, accessed Ancestry.com; Glen [sic] M. Curtis, U.S. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, accessed Ancestry.com; Glenn M. Curtis, Death Certificate, November 25, 1958, accessed Ancestry.com; “Curtis, Legend in Coaching, Is Dead at 64,” Indianapolis News, November 25, 1958, 1.

Glenn Curtis was born March 4, 1894 and died on November 25, 1958.

[2] Normal Advance, Indiana State Normal, November 14, 1914, vol. 20, no. 2 accessed Indiana State University Archives; “List of Teachers for the Year 1914-1915,” Martinsville Democrat, December 18, 1914, n.p.; “Another Change in High School Faculty,” Rushville Daily Republican, February 1, 1919, 1; “Curtis is Not Coming Back,” Rushville Daily Republican, June 27, 1919, 1; The Artesian, Yearbook, Martinsville High School, 1936, 8, accessed Ancestry.com; The Artesian, Yearbook, Martinsville High School, 1938, 52-53, accessed Ancestry.com; “Curtis Seeks I.U. Position,” Muncie Star Press, June 21, 1938, 8; The 1939 Sycamore, Yearbook, Indiana State Teachers College, 1939, 101; “Glenn Curtis” College Basketball Statistics and History, accessed Sports-Reference.com; “Glenn Curtis to Coach Kautskys,” Lafayette Journal and Courier, May 23, 1947, 15; “Famous Hoosier Coach and His First Squad,” Martinsville [Democrat?], no date, n.p.; “Glenn Curtis Dies in Hospital,” Martinsville Reporter-Times, May 13, 1982, 20.

Glenn Curtis began his long coaching career by 1917, but may have started as early as 1914. The undated article above from the Martinsville [Democrat?] includes a photograph of Curtis with a caption that notes that the first team he ever coached was the grade school team at Crown Center. The Normal Advance, a monthly journal by students and faculty at Indiana State, and a December 1914 Martinsville Democrat article confirm that Curtis was principal and a teacher of history and English at Crown Center in 1914, but neither makes reference to him as a coach. To date, IHB has not located any other primary source to confirm the 1914 coaching date. However, retrospective articles on Curtis’s career report that he had brief teaching and coaching stints at Crown Center, Advance, and Plainfield before becoming basketball coach at Lebanon High School for the 1917-1918 season.

Curtis took a position at Rushville High School teaching English and coaching the school’s basketball team in 1919. At the conclusion of the school year, the Rushville Daily Republican reported that he had accepted a position with Martinsville High School. He continued to coach high school, college, and professional teams through 1947.

[3] “Pandemonium Breaks Loose at Lebanon When News of Team’s Victory is Known,” Indianapolis Star, March 17, 1918, 45; “1918 High School Tournament Winners,” Indianapolis Star, March 17, 1918, 45; “Hardwood Double Dribbles,” Indianapolis Star, February 14, 1923, 14; The Cedars, Yearbook, Lebanon High School, 1918, accessed Ancestry.com; Indiana High School Athletic Association: Fifteenth Annual Hand Book and Report of the Board of Control, 1918, photo between pages 16 and 17, 102, accessed ihsaa.org.

Lebanon High School defeated Anderson High School 24-20 in overtime on March 16, 1918 for its second consecutive state high school basketball championship. According to a 1918 Indianapolis Star article, the Lebanon team was the first high school team Curtis ever coached. Later newspaper articles report that Curtis had a few previous coaching stints prior to leading the Lebanon squad, but it is unclear if these were high school teams. See footnote 2 for more information.

[4] “Curtis is Not Coming Back,” Rushville Daily Republican, June 27, 1919, 1; “Predicts State Honors for Locals,” Martinsville Reporter-Times, November 24, 1919, 1; The Spectroscope, Yearbook, Martinsville High School, 1921, accessed Ancestry.com; “Martinsville Tristate Title Winners,” Indianapolis News, February 20, 1922, 18; “Artesian City Team is Second Champion Coached by Curtis,” Indianapolis Star, March 17, 1924, 14; The Artesian, Yearbook, Martinsville High School, 1927, accessed Ancestry.com; “Curtis New Principal of Martinsville High,” Indianapolis Star, June 1, 1929, 4; “Curtis Wins Fourth Crown as Greencastle Goes Down,” Indianapolis News, March 20, 1933, 12; The Artesian, Yearbook, Martinsville High School, 1933, accessed Ancestry.com; The Artesian, Yearbook, Martinsville High School, 1938, accessed Ancestry.com; “Curtis Contender for Indiana Post,” Indianapolis Star, June 21, 1938, 15.

Curtis began coaching Martinsville’s high school basketball team in 1919. Under his leadership, the team won thirteen regionals, advanced to five state finals, and won titles in 1924, 1927, and 1933. In 1929, in addition to maintaining his coaching responsibilities, he was also selected principal of the school. Curtis held both positions through the end of the 1938 school year.

[5] The Artesian, Yearbook, Martinsville High School, 1926, accessed Ancestry.com; The Artesian, Yearbook, Martinsville High School, 1927, 59, 62, accessed Ancestry.com; The Artesian, Yearbook, Martinsville High School, 1928, 82, 84, accessed Ancestry.com; “Dine Bears Wednesday,” South Bend Tribune, March 31, 1946, 34; “Banquet Honors Curtis, Wooden,” Martinsville Reporter-Times, October 15, 1946, 4; Gordon Graham, “Graham Crackers,” Journal and Courier, August 8, 1963, 30; S. L. Burpo, “The Sport Jester,” Martinsville Reporter-Times, March 17, 1971, 5; “Glenn Curtis Dies in Hospital,” Martinsville Reporter-Times, May 13, 1982, 20; “Legendary Glenn Curtis Not Only Won Basketball Titles . . . He Turned Out Many True Champions in the Game of Life,” Martinsville Reporter-Times, May 7, 2001; “Wooden Continues to Teach, Inspire,” [Alexandria, Louisiana] Town Talk, January 28, 2010, 7, 9; “Pyramid Values Endure Test of Time,” Los Angeles Times, June 5, 2010, 35; John Wooden and Don Yaeger, A Game Plan for Life: The Power of Mentoring (New York: Bloomsbury, 2009): 39-48; Seth Davis, Wooden: A Coach’s Life (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2014): 18, 25, 36, 55, 97, accessed Google Books.

John R. Wooden played under Glenn Curtis for three years at Martinsville High School and later succeeded Curtis as coach at Indiana State. Wooden often credited Curtis as being one of the important mentors in his life, in addition to his father and Coach Ward “Piggy” Lambert. According to Wooden, he valued Curtis’s calm demeanor in games, and learned the importance of fundamentals and industriousness while playing for him. A legendary coach, Wooden is known for his Pyramid of Success, which some trace back to Curtis. Curtis reportedly had his own ladder or triangle of success that Wooden learned from and expanded. For information on Wooden’s Pyramid of Success and his basketball philosophy, see the Los Angeles Times, June 5, 2010.

[6] “Curtis Contender for Indiana Post,” Indianapolis Star, June 21, 1938, 15; The 1939 Sycamore, Yearbook, Indiana State Teachers College, 1939; The 1940 Sycamore, Yearbook, Indiana State Teachers College, 1940; The 1943 Sycamore, Yearbook, Indiana State Teachers College, 1943, 140; The 1944 Sycamore, Yearbook, Indiana State Teachers College, 1944, 100; “Pairings Announced for N.A.I.B. Tourney,” Terre Haute Tribune, March 9, 1952, 47; “Indiana State is Optimistic,” Terre Haute Tribune, March 1, 1959, 51; “Glenn Curtis,” College Basketball Statistics and History, accessed Sports-Reference.com.

Curtis was appointed basketball coach at Indiana State Teachers College in 1938. In late summer 1939, he also became director of the athletic program at the school. He continued his string of success, leading the team to eight winning seasons. According to the 1943 Sycamore, “Glenn Curtis’ stress on controlled ball offense, tight man-to-man defense, stunning fast-break, and split-second passing, have brought him a reputation as one of the nation’s smartest coaches.” During World War II, his team was composed largely of Navy trainees.

In 1937, Dr. James Naismith worked with a small group of interested partners to establish a National College Basketball Tournament as a way for smaller colleges to crown a national basketball champion. An official organization, the National Association for Intercollegiate Basketball (NAIB), was established in 1940 to help oversee the tournament. In 1952, the NAIB expanded and transformed into the National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), adding several other sports. The NAIA continues to be an important association for smaller universities across the country. During Curtis’s tenure at Indiana State, he led the school to the tournament in 1942, 1943, and to the final round in 1946.

[7] “Glenn Curtis Quits as Indiana State Coach to Direct Local Quintet in New Pro Loop,” Indianapolis Star, July 6, 1946, 13; “Glenn Curtis Resigns as Detroit Cage Coach,” Indianapolis Star, January 26, 1947, 44; “Glenn Curtis to Coach Kautskys,” Journal and Courier, May 23, 1947, 15; “Reasons for Resignation are Mystery,” Indianapolis Star, November 20, 1947, 26.

Curtis resigned as head coach at Indiana State in the summer of 1946 and immediately accepted a position to coach the Indianapolis franchise (the Rileys) of the newly formed Basketball Association of America (BAA). The BAA merged with the National Basketball League (NLB) to form the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1949. According to the Indianapolis Star, when the Rileys struggled to find a playing court in the Indianapolis Coliseum, Curtis and the franchise moved to Detroit and the team became the Detroit Falcons. By January 1947, Curtis resigned as coach due to poor health. That May, he accepted a position coaching the Indianapolis Kautskys of the National Basketball League. However, he abruptly resigned mid-season in November 1947.

[8] “Glenn Curtis Back Home as H.S. Superintendent,” Indianapolis Star, July 14, 1948, 21; The Artesian, Yearbook, Martinsville High School, 1949, 8, accessed via Ancestry.com; “Floyd A. Hines is Named Connersville Schools Head,” March 10, 1949, 1; “Glenn Curtis Retires July 31,” Columbus Republic, February 10, 1955, 15.

Curtis returned to Martinsville in 1948 as acting superintendent. According to the Indianapolis Star, he succeeded Floyd A. Hines, “who has been granted a leave of absence to serve as an advisor on elementary education with the American occupation forces in Bremen, Germany.” In 1949, Hines was named head of the Connersville city schools. Curtis resigned as Martinsville superintendent in 1955.

[9] “Jep Cadou Jr. Calls ‘Em,” Indianapolis Star, June 10, 1959, 27; “Losing Never Came Easy for Curtis, Says Congressman,” Martinsville Daily Reporter, August 31, 1959, n.p.; “The Yarnin’ Basket,” Indianapolis News, September 5, 1959, 14; Martinsville High School Gymnasium, National Register of Historic Places, Morgan County, Indiana, NR-0211, accessed via SHAARD; “Glenn M. Curtis Memorial Gymnasium,” accessed via Waymarking.com.

The Martinsville High School Gymnasium was dedicated the Glenn M. Curtis Memorial Gymnasium in August 1959.

[10] “State Hall of Fame Inducts Five,” Indianapolis Star, March 19, 1964, 45; “Hall of Fame,” photograph, Franklin Evening Star, Mach 19, 1964, 13; Glenn Curtis, Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.

The Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame was established in 1962 and Curtis was inducted in 1964. His wife attended the ceremony and accepted a plaque on his behalf.