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Perhaps the best thing for Ryan Pedon on April 15 was keeping busy with a recruiting visit.
Illinois State’s men’s basketball coach finally got time in the late afternoon to gather a few thoughts on his high school coach at Bexley, Gene Millard, although Millard’s impact on Pedon went far beyond the court.
“He was a legend in our town,” Pedon said. “I was a basketball freak growing up, and he was the gold standard in our town as a coach, as a figure, as a leader. He was a guy I just looked up to for a lot of different reasons, and he was a close family friend.
“It was about way more than being my coach.”
Millard, who won 496 games in 33 seasons as a coach and scored the first basket at St. John Arena as an Ohio State senior in 1956, died April 15 at age 90.
Millard led Bexley to the Class AA state championship in 1983 and a 20-0 regular-season in 1984-85 and also served as the school’s athletic director for many years. Bexley’s gymnasium is named in his honor.
“It was quite a life,” said John Betz, who was a sophomore on the title team, an assistant to Millard in the 1990s before a two-decade coaching career of his own and currently serves as athletic director at Olentangy Berlin. “Anything he touched, he had a knack for getting the best out of everyone he was around.”
Betz said Millard had a certain look he would give his players when they did something wrong.
“It’s like when your dad gets upset with you, he looks at you and he doesn’t have to say anything, but you know he still loves you,” Betz said. “He cared so much about all of us.”
Betz and Pedon also recalled when Millard, his son Michael and Betz traveled to Illinois State to watch Pedon coach late in the 2023-24 season, shortly after Millard’s wife of almost 69 years, Sally, passed away.
“A full-circle moment,” Pedon said of that day, choking back tears. “A big reason I went into coaching was because I idolized him so much.”
Pedon played collegiately at Wooster and was an assistant at Toledo, Illinois and Butler before coaching at Ohio State under Chris Holtmann from 2017-22. He remembered attending Bexley’s state final victory at age 5, calling the game “one of my earliest memories.”
“I idolized Bexley basketball players, and (Millard) was at the core of all of that,” Pedon said. “Outside my dad, I think he has had as much impact on my life as a man and a coach as anybody I have ever come across.”
A 1953 graduate of Dayton Stivers, Millard played at Ohio State from 1953-57. He coached at Washington Court House for four years before going to Bexley in 1962, where he led the Lions until 1987 and again from 1994-97.
OSU hoops: Ohio State basketball took home a national title 65 years ago | Arace
Millard came out of retirement during the 1998-99 season to coach Bexley’s girls team, leading them to a 21-3 record and Division II district championship.
“(We) made this school a little bit of a basketball power,” Millard said when he was inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011.
Millard is survived by three children, 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Daughter Becky died in a 1987 plane crash.
“He was a fierce competitor,” Betz said. “He just never wanted to give up, and that speaks to the way he lived all the way to the end.”
High school sports reporter Dave Purpura can be reached at [email protected] and at @dp_dispatch on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ex Bexley basketball coach, Ohio State player Gene Millard dies at 90
Continue reading...
Illinois State’s men’s basketball coach finally got time in the late afternoon to gather a few thoughts on his high school coach at Bexley, Gene Millard, although Millard’s impact on Pedon went far beyond the court.
“He was a legend in our town,” Pedon said. “I was a basketball freak growing up, and he was the gold standard in our town as a coach, as a figure, as a leader. He was a guy I just looked up to for a lot of different reasons, and he was a close family friend.
“It was about way more than being my coach.”
Millard, who won 496 games in 33 seasons as a coach and scored the first basket at St. John Arena as an Ohio State senior in 1956, died April 15 at age 90.
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Millard led Bexley to the Class AA state championship in 1983 and a 20-0 regular-season in 1984-85 and also served as the school’s athletic director for many years. Bexley’s gymnasium is named in his honor.
“It was quite a life,” said John Betz, who was a sophomore on the title team, an assistant to Millard in the 1990s before a two-decade coaching career of his own and currently serves as athletic director at Olentangy Berlin. “Anything he touched, he had a knack for getting the best out of everyone he was around.”
Betz said Millard had a certain look he would give his players when they did something wrong.
“It’s like when your dad gets upset with you, he looks at you and he doesn’t have to say anything, but you know he still loves you,” Betz said. “He cared so much about all of us.”
Betz and Pedon also recalled when Millard, his son Michael and Betz traveled to Illinois State to watch Pedon coach late in the 2023-24 season, shortly after Millard’s wife of almost 69 years, Sally, passed away.
“A full-circle moment,” Pedon said of that day, choking back tears. “A big reason I went into coaching was because I idolized him so much.”
Pedon played collegiately at Wooster and was an assistant at Toledo, Illinois and Butler before coaching at Ohio State under Chris Holtmann from 2017-22. He remembered attending Bexley’s state final victory at age 5, calling the game “one of my earliest memories.”
“I idolized Bexley basketball players, and (Millard) was at the core of all of that,” Pedon said. “Outside my dad, I think he has had as much impact on my life as a man and a coach as anybody I have ever come across.”
A 1953 graduate of Dayton Stivers, Millard played at Ohio State from 1953-57. He coached at Washington Court House for four years before going to Bexley in 1962, where he led the Lions until 1987 and again from 1994-97.
OSU hoops: Ohio State basketball took home a national title 65 years ago | Arace
Millard came out of retirement during the 1998-99 season to coach Bexley’s girls team, leading them to a 21-3 record and Division II district championship.
“(We) made this school a little bit of a basketball power,” Millard said when he was inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011.
Millard is survived by three children, 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Daughter Becky died in a 1987 plane crash.
“He was a fierce competitor,” Betz said. “He just never wanted to give up, and that speaks to the way he lived all the way to the end.”
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High school sports reporter Dave Purpura can be reached at [email protected] and at @dp_dispatch on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ex Bexley basketball coach, Ohio State player Gene Millard dies at 90
Continue reading...
