Hall of Fame
Lee Tressel starred in academics and football in high
school at Ada, Ohio, and at Baldwin-Wallace College. He
was a Navy lieutenant in World War II. Tressel began his
coaching career in 1948 and worked at three Ohio high
schools--Ada, Mentor, Massillon. He had a 10-year record
of 70-20. He became the Baldwin-Wallace coach in 1958 and
held the post 23 years. He won four Ohio Conference
titles and in 1978 his team won the national championship
in the NCAA Division III. In the playoff games leading to
the championship the Yellow Jackets beat St. Lawrence 71-7,
Carnegie-Mellon 31-0, and Wittenberg 24-10. Tressel's
record his last four years was 38-4. His record for 23
Baldwin-Wallace years was 155-52-6, a .742 pace. He had
three sons-Richard, David, and James. All three played
for him at Baldwin-Wallace. His son Richard coached 23 years at
Hamline University 1978-2000. His son James began a 15-year
stint as head coach at Youngstown State in 1986. He won four
national championships in NCAA Division I-AA. Then he moved to
Ohio State and in 2002 won the national championship in NCAA
Division I-A. Lee Tressel added master's and doctors degrees.
He received many coaching awards, the principal ones being
Small College Coach of the Year, named by the American Football
Coaches Association, by ABC-Chevrolet, and by Washington
Touchdown Club. He was active in the Fellowship of
Christian Athletes. Awards were named for him.
Baldwin-Wallace started the Tressel Award for the football
player with the highest scholastic average. The Ohio
Conference started the Tressel Award for the best
defensive back each year. Lee Tressel, who also served
as his school's director of athletics, died
April 16, 1981, at age 56.
