Bennie Purcell is a Hall of Fame basketball player who became a Hall of Fame tennis coach at Murray State University

Murray State University

Murray State University, located in the city of Murray, Kentucky, is a four-year public university with approximately 10,400 students. The school is Kentucky’s only public university to be listed in the U.S.News & World Report regional university top tier for the past 20 consecutive years...

, coaching the Racers for 28 years. His teams won 11 Ohio Valley Conference

Ohio Valley Conference

The Ohio Valley Conference is a college athletic conference which operates in the midwestern and southeastern United States. It participates in Division I of the NCAA; the conference's football programs compete in the Football Championship Subdivision , the lower of two levels of Division I...

 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 1948-52. 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

Harlem Globetrotters

The Harlem Globetrotters are an exhibition basketball team that combines athleticism, theater and comedy. The executive offices for the team are currently in downtown Phoenix, Arizona; the team is owned by Shamrock Holdings, which oversees the various investments of the Roy E. Disney family.Over...

 before returning to Murray to serve as assistant basketball coach under Cal Luther 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 Purcell

Mel Purcell is a former World No. 17 tennis player in the ATP tennis rankings. He is the head coach of the Murray State University men's tennis team...

, succeeded him as head tennis coach at Murray State in 1996

Other sources

• http://www.goracers.com GoRacers.com
• http://www.ovcsports.com OVCSports.com