The Plains Grad Larry Hunter needs prayers

[Raider6309]

Former Ohio University basketball coach Larry Hunter on life support after stroke-Columbus Dispatch

Former Ohio University basketball players were stunned and saddened when Larry Hunter, who won 702 games in 37 seasons as a coach at OU and two other colleges, suffered a massive stroke Sunday and is on life support less than two months after he retired.

Hunter, 68, stepped down as Western Carolina’s coach on March 4. Details of his condition were not available Monday.
“This is an unbelievable turn of events,” said Jeff Boals, the Stony Brook head coach who captained Ohio’s 1994 Mid-American Conference championship team. “Coach Hunter has made such a positive impact on my coaches, players and students throughout his long tenure. He has been a great mentor and friend to me and has helped on a lot of my personal and professional decisions.”

Hunter was inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame in May 2016. He is one of 40 coaches to have won 700 or more college games.

Hunter’s work at Wittenberg, where he was 305-76 and won an NCAA Division III national championship in 1977, got him the Ohio job in 1989.
Hunter was destined to become a Bobcat. He was born in Athens and graduated from The Plains High School. He lettered in 1970-71, his senior year at Ohio.

The 1993-94 Bobcats were Hunter’s best team as a major college coach. They were led by future NBA player Gary Trent and Boals.
“Coach Hunter meant everything to me,” Trent said. “On the court, he drilled me about leaving it all on the floor. Off the court, he emphasized how I needed to mature as a person and be aware of my conduct at all times. Coach Hunter and I stayed in constant contact through the years. This is a really sad day for me and anyone who played for him.”

The Bobcats finished 19-11 in 2000-01, but Hunter was fired after 12 seasons by athletic director Tom Boeh. His record at Ohio was 204-148.

[Orange and Brown]

Coach Hunter was the best coach Ohio has ever had. A great guy as well.
I'm still bitter he was fired.
My heart goes out to him and his family.

[E High]

Met him 3-4 times. He was a true and sincere Gentleman. Thoughts and prayers are with him and family.

[Jeff Lisath]

Prayers for Coach Hunter. Larry recruited me out of high school and always check on me once I became a coach. Great coach, always with a smile and handshake.

[Pol pot]

Coach has been removed from life support, unfortunately this is not going to end well. prayers to all of Coach Hunter's former players and family.

[E High]

[Prime Time]

Prayers Coach! Your one of the good guys! Agree one of best Bobcat Coach’s ever!

[Prime Time]

Orange and Brown, I totally agree with you on his being let go, still remember the time that happened and was in disbelief!

[Gucci]

Unfortunately, Coach Hunter passed away this morning. Prayers to Mary and his family! A Hall of Fame coach and a great man!

[E High]

So sad. May you Rest In Peace coach and may God bless your family.

[E High]

I'm shocked that more people on here aren't paying their respect too a great coach and a better man !

[Raider6309]

Brenda White remembers the phone calls on Christmas morning, and the way her first boss in a new position became a friend.

Geno Ford remembers an unrelenting competitive drive and a mentor who would go the extra mile for a player in need.


The memories came flooding back this week for White, Ford and a whole generation of players and coaches and fans. The recollections were centered around Larry Hunter, an Athens County original, who spent more than 50 years playing and coaching college basketball.

Hunter, a graduate of The Plains High School and Ohio University, passed away Friday morning around 11 a.m. at WakeMed Cary Hospital, according to a Western Carolina athletics department release. Hunter, 68, was hospitalized last weekend after suffering a stroke.

Hunter stepped down as the head coach of the men’s program at Western Carolina University on March 4.

Hunter is survived by his wife, the former Mary Kay Friedrich; brother, Garry Hunter, and his wife, Becky Hunter; and sister, Donna, and her husband, Darrell Brown.

Information about memorial services, either in Cullowhee, N.C or Athens, was not available at press time.

White, an administrative assistant in the basketball offices at Ohio University since 1989, said it’s been a tough week in the Convo. She said she’s heard from dozens of former Bobcats in recent days as Hunter’s extended player family — created during his dozen seasons as Ohio’s head coach — reminisced about their coach and inquired about his health.

“It’s been good in one aspect. Every one of those guys from that era — Gary (Trent), Geno (Ford), Gus (Johnson), Jeff Boals, Dave Jamerson — has called up this week,” she said.

“But it’s so hard. I loved Larry Hunter like a brother.”

Many of Hunter’s former players felt as strongly. Their comments ticked through social media all day on Friday, offering support, respect and sadness as his passing.

“It is incredibly difficult to communicate his impact on all of his former players. He taught me how to compete, and be tough,” said Ford, a point guard for Hunter and the Bobcats during a successful run in Athens in the mid 1990s.

“He was so genuine in his caring for the guys,” Ford added. “It’s hard to believe this has happened. It’s a difficult day for us all.”

Hunter was involved in college basketball — as a player, assistant coach and a head coach — for more than 50 years. His head coaching career included three different universities with each stop lasting at least 12 seasons.

Hunter’s 47-year coaching career was spent at five different schools and included stints as an assistant at Marietta College (1971-73) and North Carolina State (2001-05), and head coaching positions at Wittenberg (1976-89), at Ohio University (1989-2001) and finally at Western Carolina (2005-18).

Hunter was a two-time Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Coach of the Year, the 1994 Mid-American Conference (MAC) Coach of the Year, and won the NABC Division III National Coach of the Year award in 1977. In August of 2016, Hunter was inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame.

At Wittenberg, Hunter led the Tigers to the 1976-77 NCAA Division III National Championship, 11 20-win seasons, five OAC regular season titles and seven OAC Tournament championships. Three times the Tigers also finished in the top four of the country (1979-90, 1982-83 and 1986-87).


Hunter returned to his hometown of Athens to coach the Bobcats in 1989. He led Ohio to 10 winning seasons in 12 years, including three with 20 or more victories. He coached two MAC Players of the Year at Ohio — Dave Jamerson (1990 and Gary Trent (1993-95) — and helped guide the Bobcats to the 1994 MAC Tournament title and a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Ohio won the Preseason NIT the following season, and even earned a short stint in the national rankings. The Bobcats finished that year at 24-10 and in the postseason NIT.

Hunter was relieved as the Ohio head coach in 2001, and spent the next four seasons on the bench at N.C. State and then took over the head coaching position at Western Carolina in 2005.

With 13 seasons with the Catamounts, Hunter racked up 193 wins and guided WCU to its first 20-win season as an NCAA Division I program with a 22-12 mark in 2009-10. Hunter led WCU to a pair of Southern Conference North Division titles, and twice had the Catamounts in the SoCon Tournament championship game.

But it was his dozen years in Athens — his hometown — many will associate with Hunter. He finished as just one of 40 college coaches to ever win more than 700 career games. Hunter was 204-148 in 12 seasons at Ohio, but then AD Tim Boeh did not retain him after a 19-11 season in 2000-01.


“Those were great times until the end,” White said. “He LOVED Ohio University. It was his passion, and that just came out. It was a ‘Local boy makes good’ kind of story and he loved being here.”

Ford owes much of his professional life to Hunter. He offered Ford a scholarship out of high school, despite Ford’s 5-foot-6 height, and gave him his first coaching job a few years later at the age of 24.

“He took a chance on me, twice,” said Ford, who has been a head coach at the Division I level at Kent State and Bradley. “I was a 5-6 guard. I wasn’t a prospect. I was a 24-year old know-nothing kid trying to be a coach.

“But he was so genuine in his caring for his players. He invested in you, to make you a better person.”

Current Ohio head coach Saul Phillips knew of Hunter long before he came to Athens. Phillips’ own background in Division III basketball meant he was familiar with Hunter’s work at Wittenberg.


“I know he made a big impression on the players who played for him,” Phillips said. “That says a lot about who he was.”

Who Hunter was is a matter of perspective. White remembers someone who would call on Christmas to pass along season’s greetings, who treated her well, and shined when presented with snapshots of family life.

“I know we laughed a lot, in the office, in those days,” she said. “I know he loved families. Whenever he saw a new grandchild, he lit up like a Christmas tree.

“When he left, it was hard for me,” White added. “I worked for the university, not just him. I just hoped the next guy treated me as well as he did.”

For Ford, Hunter was the toughest, most hard-working guy he ever met. ‘Chop wood’ was the mantra for the man, and became one for his teams. Ford swears that Hunter, like his father Bob, never took a sick day, never took a vacation.


“No one, and I mean no one — not a player, not a coach — has ever worked harder in college basketball that I’ve come across,’ Ford said. “It’s not even close. He was almost fanatical in his approach.”

And while Hunter won 702 games over his career, Ford said it was losses that always drove him to work harder. It didn’t matter the arena either. It could be on the basketball court, playing euchre on the bus or playing 18 holes.

Ford remembered a time he beat his coach on a last-hole chip-in in a golf outing at the Lancaster Country Club. During the ride back to the Convo, not a single word was said.

“Not. A. Single. Word. Just total silence for an hour in the car,” Ford said.

It’s those moments Ford will remember most, he said. And they’re the ones the former Bobcats have tried to collect, and catalogue all week as they dealt with the sad news coming out of North Carolina.


Yes, Hunter’s teams won lots of games. But it was the other moments — when character showed and the lessons were learned — that Hunter’s former players will carry with them always.

“I just want people to remember the quality of the man,” Ford said. “Yeah, you gotta win, that’s the business we’re in.

“But was the highest quality person you could run across. I’m going to miss him deeply.”

[Raider6309]

I'm shocked that more people on here aren't paying their respect too a great coach and a better man !

I don’t think most people realize he’s from Athens. He actually recruited this area. Hopefully Athens does something for him in basketball.

[Prime Time]

I agree , Larry was a super human being and great sideline Coach. RIP Coach

[E High]

Are there any memorial services planned in Athens anytime soon ?

[Orange and Brown]

Are there any memorial services planned in Athens anytime soon ?

Already had it.