Hall of Fame
The 1972-73 season was one of the true glory years for Coe College basketball. Coe was the undefeated Midwest Conference champion with a record of 14-0. Under Coach Marcus Jackson Coe won the Windy City Classic in Chicago. Coe was the NCAA College Division Midwest Regional champion. That basketball team's record was 24 wins and only one loss. The only game lost was in the NCAA College Division National Tournament. The captain of that marvelous basketball team was William T. Carrithers, Class of 1973. Bill started and played every game in the two years he was on the basketball team. In 1971-72 he was the leading rebounder on a team that went 14-8 and he was given the "Unsung Hero" award. Bill was selected to the All Midwest Conference First Team after the 1972-73 season. He played in the Iowa-Wisconsin All-Star game and in the Iowa Small College-Large University All-Star game. He was named the Most Valuable Player on the Small College Squad and was nominated for the Clarkson Award given to the outstanding Iowa senior basketball player. His teammates on the '72-'73 championship team voted him the Most Valuable Player on that memorable squad. Bill has been a professor of sociology at Western Oregon State College since 1987, keeping the family tradition set by his father and grandfather who were college teachers. There is a second Carrithers family tradition. Today, as he is inducted into the Kohawk Athletic Hall of Fame, Bill becomes the first third-generation athlete to be so honored. His grandfather, Ira Carrithers, former athletic director and coach, was in the charter Hall of Fame class inducted in 1973. His father, the late Dr. James Carrithers '36, long-time professor and chairman of economics and business administration at Coe, was made a Hall of Famer in 1976. On this day in 1992, we take unusual pleasure in recognizing the athletic achievements of William T. Carrithers, athlete and professor in his family's tradition, as he joins both his father and his grandfather as a member of the Kohawk Athletic Hall of Fame.
