Oliver, who grew up in Byesville, Ohio, gained fame first as a player at Rio Grande College, where he led the nation in scoring with 725 points in the 1947-48 season, and then as Rio Grande’s coach. His team, led by one of college basketball’s all-time best scorers, Bevo Francis, finished 39-0 in 1952-53.
"It's a huge loss for the Rio community and for college basketball in general," Rio Grande men's basketball coach Ken French said in a statement. "He was a master — one of the best in the history of college basketball — when it came to promoting the game. He promoted the teams that he had with Bevo and, when you look through the history of small college basketball, there's been none better." Newt orchestrated things that will never be duplicated again. I always enjoyed talking with him every year. His passion for basketball and playing the game the right way were unmatched. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family."
Francis ranks second in NCAA history (all divisions) for most points scored in a game. He scored 113 on Feb. 2, 1954, against Hillsdale. He scored 1,255 points that season, a mark that ranks fourth in the NCAA record books. His scoring average of 46.5 remains the NCAA single-season record.
Francis averaged 50.1 points in the undefeated season and totalled 1,954 points, but the NCAA didn’t count those statistics in the official record books because some of the games were played against teams that weren’t accredited colleges.
One of the other players on Oliver’s Rio Grande teams was Wayne Wiseman, who would go on to coach South High School from 1965-87. Wiseman and Oliver were both members of the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame’s inaugural class in 2005.
In 2008 when a documentary about Oliver's famous Rio Grande teams aired, Oliver told the News-Sun, "It seems to be by the calls I get from all over the country that people recognize us more than ever, especially older people. We seem to become more legendary as time goes by."
Oliver coached two seasons at Rio Grande and then left to coach the Boston Whirlwinds, one of the teams that traveled with the Harlem Globetrotters. He coached the Whirlwinds for 2½ years before settling in Clark County with his wife Maxine, who wanted to be close to her sisters who lived in Springfield.
Oliver became a teacher and athletic director at Northwestern High School. He also opened a restaurant, Newt Oliver’s Frostop Drive-In on West First Street in Springfield. He served two terms as Clark County commissioner in the 1970s and 1980s.
Services for Oliver will be held at 1 p.m. Monday at Richards, Raff and Dunbar Memorial Home. Family and friends will gather at 11 a.m.
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