Bennie Allen Purcell (December 10, 1929 – February 12, 2016) was a basketball player who became a tennis coach at
Murray State University
Murray State University (MSU) is a public university in Murray, Kentucky. In addition to the main campus in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky, Murray State operates extended campuses offering upper level and graduate courses in Paducah, H ...
, coaching the Racers for 28 years. His teams won 11
Ohio Valley Conference
The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern and Southeastern United States, Southeastern United States. It participates in NCAA Divisi ...
men's tennis championships, and he was eight times selected OVC Men's Tennis Coach of the Year.
Collegiate basketball career
Previously, he played basketball at Murray State and was the first player in school history to score more than 1,000 points for his career, finishing with 1,054 points from 1948 to 1952. He was twice selected All-OVC and earned all-America honors after his play at the small college
NAIB tournament in Kansas City in 1952.
After college
After his college career, he toured with the
Harlem Globetrotters
The Harlem Globetrotters are an American exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, and comedy in their style of play. Created in 1926 by Tommy Brookins in Chicago, Illinois, the team adopted the name ''Harlem'' because of i ...
before returning to Murray to serve as assistant basketball coach under
Cal Luther
Calvin Charles Luther (October 23, 1927 – May 8, 2021) was an American men's college basketball coach (sport), coach. He was the head coach at DePauw University, DePauw, Murray State University, Murray State, Longwood University, Longwood, Unive ...
before later taking over as head tennis coach in 1968.
Purcell is a member of Murray State's athletics hall of fame and his No. 21 is one of nine retired by Murray State for basketball. He was inducted into the Ohio Valley Conference Hall of Fame in 1990, the Kentucky Tennis Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Hall of Fame in 1999. Murray State's tennis courts are named in his honor.
Family
His son, former professional tennis player
Mel Purcell
Mel, Mels or MEL may refer to:
Biology
* Mouse erythroleukemia cell line (MEL)
* National Herbarium of Victoria, a herbarium with the Index Herbariorum code MEL
People
* Mel (given name), the abbreviated version of several given names (including ...
, succeeded him as head tennis coach at Murray State in 1996.
References
External links
GoRacers.comOVCSports.com
1929 births
2016 deaths
American men's basketball players
American tennis coaches
Baltimore Bullets (1944–1954) draft picks
Basketball players from Illinois
Guards (basketball)
Murray State Racers men's basketball players
People from Mount Vernon, Illinois
People from Murray, Kentucky
Tennis people from Kentucky
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