Coach Dave Maurer, a 1991 College Football Hall of Fame inductee from Wittenberg University in Ohio, passed away July 30. He was 79.

 Maurer coached Wittenberg 15 years, winning national championships in NCAA Division III in 1973 and 1975 and finishing as runners-up in 1978 and 1979.

Maurer played football at Denison and joined the Wittenberg staff in 1955 as assistant to Bill Edwards, who also is in the College Football Hall of Fame. Maurer moved up to head coach in 1969. His teams won 11 division and league championships in the Ohio Athletic Conference. From 1969 to 1983, his overall record was 129-23-3, and his winning percentage, .842, was the third highest among all coaches in any division when he retired.

He also served as Wittenberg director of athletics and professor of health and physical education. He was appointed to the NCAA Rules Committee in 1974, to the board of trustees of the American Football Coaches Association in 1973, and was the president of the coaches association 1983-84. He was head coach in the Ohio Shrine Bowl in 1974 and assistant coach in the Coaches All-American Bowl in 1974 and 1976. He was AFCA-Kodak Coach of the Year, Division III, 1973 and 1975.

In his honor, the Dave Maurer Honorary Scholarship was created in 2008 to be awarded annually to sophomore, junior or senior male Wittenberg University students with financial need who have demonstrated such qualities as self-discipline, teamwork, cooperation, hard work, self-confidence, pride in accomplishment, competitive spirit, and the ability to deal with adversity. It is a tuition scholarship that may be renewable on an annual basis or may be rotated, per the committee's discretion.

Maurer was born March 18, 1932 in  Duquesne, Pa. A public memorial service will take place at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 3, in Wittenberg's Weaver Chapel. Visitation will take place at Littleton & Rue Funeral Home at 830 North Limestone St. from 5-8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 2.