Gene Mehaffey, men's basketball and men's tennis coach at Ohio Wesleyan University for 20 years, died on Wednesday.

Mehaffey was a head basketball coach for 32 seasons.  Only the 11th coach in NCAA Division III history to reach the 500-win mark, he had a 525-384 career record, including a 283-247 mark at Ohio Wesleyan.  

During his 20 seasons at Ohio Wesleyan, the Bishops won or shared 4 North Coast Athletic Conference titles and claimed 3 conference tournament crowns.  In addition, Mehaffey garnered 2 NCAC Coach of the Year honors.  His Ohio Wesleyan teams had just 7 losing seasons, with only 5 of more than one game below .500.

The pinnacle of Mehaffey's career came in the 1987-88 season, when the Bishops captured Ohio Wesleyan's first NCAA Division III national team championship in any sport.  En route, the Bishops won a school-record 27 games, tied for the NCAC championship, and won the NCAC tournament for the third time.  Mehaffey was recognized as the Division III and Ohio Coach of the Year, as well as NCAC Coach of the Year for the second time.

In 2002, Mehaffey was recognized with an Outstanding Service Award by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

A Bristol, Tenn., native, Mehaffey came to Ohio Wesleyan from his home state's Carson-Newman College, where he spent 11 years as basketball coach and 10 years as athletics director.  His Eagle teams, 7 of which competed in the NAIA District 24 playoffs, combined for a 242-137 record.  Mehaffey was named the NAIA District Coach of the Year in 1970, 1972 and 1973, and was Area V Coach of the Year in 1970.  Carson-Newman's 31 wins in 1973 were more than any other U.S. team — NAIA or NCAA — that season.

From 1962-67, Mehaffey was the first full-time assistant at the University of Virginia, piloting one freshman squad to a 13-1 record, the best in Cavalier history.  Previously, he was head coach at Parry-McCluer (Va.) High School, posting an 80-17 mark from 1958-62.  His prep squads won 3 district titles and were twice state runners-up.

A 4-year basketball letterman at Tennessee High School in Bristol, Mehaffey went on to Tennessee Wesleyan Junior College, where he started for both the hardwood and tennis teams.  He was inducted into that school's Athletics Hall of Fame in 1983.  A magna cum laude graduate, he continued to play both sports at Southern Methodist University, where he earned his B.S. degree in physical education in 1954.

Mehaffey earned both his master's and doctoral degrees, again in physical education, from Indiana University in 1955 and 1966 respectively, graduating with honors.

A professor of physical education at Ohio Wesleyan, Mehaffey also coached the Bishop men's tennis team, compiling a 153-193 record and sending individuals and/or doubles teams to 4 NCAA Division III tournaments.