Paul Curtis is still remembered by many.
He has the most coaching wins in boy’s basketball history at Crawfordsville. He set that record of 169 back in 1982.
Coach Curtis passed away on Oct. 30, at the age of 89.
His 12-year run at Crawfordsville is as good as any coach who worked the sidelines at the old CHS gym.
He won six sectionals and one regional title. His ’79 team had a come-from-behind win over Gary Roosevelt in the semi state first round, which got the Athenians to the final eight teams in the single-class state tournament, and is easily remembered by fans to this minute.
He won two Sagamore Conference titles, in ’72 and ’73, and his teams won 15 or more games in six of his 12 seasons in charge.
That’s the summary of the dozen years Curtis was here.
Guys who played for him, coaches who battled him, administrators who he worked with had no problems remembering the coach who walked on the scene in 1970.
“Paul Curtis established and accomplished several things during his time here” said Jim Wilhite, a member of that ’79 team. “The one thing you cannot take away,” he continued, “is the success he had at Crawfordsville. Whether you liked him or not, or agreed with him or not. During the 70’s, Paul surrounded himself with a good, fundamental coaching staff. Tommy Thompson coached the freshmen, while assistant varsity coaches Chuck Fiedler and Bruce Whitehead were with him on the varsity level. Paul played a huge role in establishing the foundation, and laid the groundwork for a very successful program. Coach Curtis played the hard-nosed guy and pushed each player to get the most out of him.”
Other members of the program recalled the coach.
“Coach Curtis was committed to making CHS basketball the best it could be,” said Jim Coyle, also a member of that ‘79 squad. “It all started with the free basketball clinics he held for grade school and junior high students throughout the summer. Not only did those clinics help improve our basketball skills, but part of the clinic involved Coach Curtis driving us to other towns in the area to scrimmage against those other schools, knowing it was going to make us better players. All at his own expense. That kind of commitment still impresses me today.”
Whitehead had a unique perspective on things.
Paul and I had an interesting relationship starting in 1976 when I was named athletic director at Crawfordsville,” he said. “As the athletic director, I was his boss but as the assistant basketball coach, he was my boss. Neither of us ever looked at the relationship in that way and we had a wonderful relationship.”
“First and foremost, Paul was an outstanding math teacher at Crawfordsville,” Whitehead continued. “Being a great teacher made him also a great coach. Great teacher or great coach requires the same qualities. Paul cared deeply for his students in the classroom and his players on the court. He wanted each person to be the best they could be. He gave much to them in his work and he demanded much of them in order for them to become the best they could be. His knowledge of the X and O part of the game of basketball was incredible and his skill of getting the best out of people was second to no one.
He was supportive of the total athletic program and not just his sport. He coached three sports for most of his career, two of them as head coach — basketball and golf. He also asked his players to participate in multiple sports. He wanted his basketball players active in the fall and/or the spring participating in other sports. The fact he coached multiple sports and asked his players to participate in multiple sports was evidence of his support of the total athletic program. He wanted every team to have success.
He felt that coaches should always be honest with his or her players. At the beginning of each season, some coaches make cuts by posting a cut list. Paul believed that each person deserved to talk to coaches in person. When it came cut time, each player out for the team would be given a one-on-one with the coaching staff and a complete explanation of why or why not they were kept on the team. Even players who made the team were told what the coaches envisioned as their role on the team. He believed in honesty and truthfulness.
I certainly appreciated my time working with Paul and considered him a great friend and colleague as well as a mentor. He helped me become a better athletic director as I learned from him. I look on those days at CHS as wonderful times.”
The coaches that Curtis faced also remember him well, starting with Chuck Kriston, the first basketball coach at North Montgomery.
“During one of our games, a small scuffle broke out between a couple players,” Kriston said, “and the next morning, Coach Curtis called me with an idea that after North and Crawfordsville played, the losing coach had to go to the winning team’s pep rally the next week. It was quite a sight, either him or I waving the other team’s pom-poms at a pep rally.”
“I also remember one of the sectionals that we were both in and all four games had the trailing team with a shot in the air at the buzzer,” Kriston continued, “and all four missed. We had a good but friendly rivalry. He was intense and always prepared. We both won a few.”
“After he left Crawfordsville, there was a day I was up at Valpo University watching a game, when a person came up and said that Coach Curtis was doing radio that day and wanted me to come do a halftime interview, so I did. That was really nice of him to remember me from our North/Cville days.”
There was a rivalry built on the south side of the county as well.
“Coach Curtis and I developed a real rivalry, starting my first season at Southmont in 1980,” said Ron Henricks. “We beat them in the sectional, which was the first time South had ever beaten Crawfordsville. That fueled the rivalry and a war broke out every time we played. Coach Curtis’ teams were always well-coached and always played hard. You had to really prepare to play them. He was an old-school coach and teacher, and he made beating Crawfordsville a real accomplishment!”
The current Crawfordsville boys coach, David Pierce, is in pursuit of the coaching record, and is 11 wins from tying Curtis.
“I never got a chance to meet one of the great coaches in Crawfordsville history,” Pierce said, noting that Curtis was not able to attend the 2023 game at the old CHS gym due to health issues. “The one thing everyone has always said is that Coach Curtis was a good man and they really enjoyed him as a person and mentor. The Crawfordsville basketball family extends their sympathies to the family.”
Guys who played for Curtis reminisced about the little quirky things that all coaches have but winning coaches make memorable.
“He had some really interesting ways to put things,” said Craig Harmon, another Curtis hoopster. “Things like: ‘Be quick but don’t hurry,’ ‘You need to be where you’re at,’ ‘Look inside and see what you can see.’ From a basketball perspective, he was a very good game planner, he was very mobile and animated on the bench, and he was a great family man. He raised his kids well. He was also a great geometry teacher.”
Mike Utterback, who was a captain, got the captain’s perspective.
“He would meet with the captains during the week sometimes to go over the game plan,” he recalled. “He emphasized team above all, and I remember the team haircuts. If you didn’t get your hair cut, you didn’t play, but what I remember most is that you never got mixed signals from him or his staff. He made an impression on our lives. He paid such attention to details. He had a great basketball mind. He was always prepared for an opponent.”
Wilhite summed up what every player, fan, coach, said about Coach Curtis.
“Paul always stressed the fundamentals of the game, along with emphasizing teamwork always,” he said. “He always said ‘defense wins.’
“Paul’s teams always played hard, with heart, were very scrappy and we were always proud to wear the Athenians uniform. His teams were always playing their best by the end of the season, which always gave that team a fighting chance going into the sectionals. His teams were some of the finest (ever) and always had a reputation that the Athenians would be tough to beat. Every school on the schedule knew they would be up for a challenge before even stepping on the floor.”
“I don’t remember a time when the CHS gym was not packed full of fans during the Paul Curtis era. When I was young, my dad took me watch CHS play Carmel. They had a player named Bill Lake, who was seven foot tall, and very good. The Athenians were big underdogs but came out winners that night, on a Mark Kessler tip-in at the last second. That game gave me a “don’t quit” attitude as I grew up.”
“I was fortunate enough to play on one of Paul’s best teams. I’ve always thought that those were some of the best times of the Crawfordsville basketball program, from the team and coaches, through the support of the students and the fans and the community.”
The memory of a coach who gave a lot of memories to the community.
