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ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME

LEWIS R. HIRT '25

Inducted: 1990

Lewis R. "Tiny" Hirt was an outstanding athlete in the early 1920s; lettering in football, baseball and basketball. A graduate of Greencastle High School, he was sought after by many college, but chose DePauw. As captain of the basketball team his senior year, he was the outstanding player and was considered to be one of the best guards in Indiana. After graduation, he taught high school and coached at the high school and college levels in Ohio. At Hamilton High School, where he was the first coach in the school's history to allow black players to join the team, he guided his basketball squad through through an undefeated season and to the state championship in 1937. In the mid-1940s he moved to Cincinnati's Xavier University where he moved the team into a major college schedule and winning records, earning a national reputation for Xavier basketball and leading to a berth in the NIT tournament. He retired from coaching in the early 1950s and spent the remainder of his career teaching general science to special classes at Withrow High School in Cincinnati. In 1978, the year following his death, the 72nd annual NCAA Convention adopted a memorial resolution commemorating his distinguished service to athletics.