Joe Sexson (March 29, 1934 – April 30, 2011) was an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach. He was the men's head coach at

Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study in six colleges: the Lacy School of Business, College of Communic ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, from 1978 to 1989. He was the head

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

coach at

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

from 1960 to 1977 and an assistant basketball coach at Purdue. Sexson was a graduate of

Arsenal Technical High School Arsenal Technical High School, commonly referred to as Tech or Arsenal Tech, is a public high school in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, which is run by the Indianapolis Public Schools district. The school is located on a , multiple buildin ...

in Indianapolis where he was a star athlete and the 1952

Indiana Mr. Basketball The Indiana Mr. Basketball honor recognizes the top high school basketball player in the state of Indiana. The award is presented annually by ''The Indianapolis Star''. The first Indiana Mr. Basketball was George Crowe of Franklin High School in ...

. He was also awarded the Arthur L. Trester Award for Mental Attitude, after leading Arsenal Tech to a Runner-Up finish in the state basketball tournament. He graduated Purdue where he was a 3-year starter, the team captain and All-Big Ten star on the basketball and baseball teams. When he graduated, he was the leading scorer (he is #36 on the all-time scoring list), his 16.6 ppg avg ranks in the Top Ten at Purdue. He was drafted by the New York Knicks in 1956 but chose to enter the high school teaching and coaching ranks and eventually returned to Purdue as an assistant. He played for Head Coach Ray Eddy and later joined Eddy's staff as an assistant in 1960. He was a part of the staff that led the Boilermakers to the 1969 NCAA Title game and the 1974

National Invitational Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

Championship. While coaching the Butler Bulldogs, he won an

Indiana Collegiate Conference The Indiana Collegiate Conference (ICC) was a college athletic conference in the United States from 1951 to 1978. It consisted solely of schools in Indiana. The charter members of the conference were Indiana State University, Butler University, ...

(ICC) title and was named ICC Coach of the year in 1978. He also aided the Bulldogs' transition from membership in the ICC to the newly formed

Midwestern City Conference The Horizon League is an 11-school collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I, whose members are located in and near the Great Lakes region. The ...

. He was named the Midwestern City Conference Coach of the Year in 1984.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sexson, Joe 1934 births 2011 deaths American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Baseball players from Indianapolis Basketball coaches from Indiana Basketball players from Indianapolis Butler Bulldogs men's basketball coaches College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Purdue Boilermakers baseball coaches Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball coaches Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball players