Hartman's Stillwater roots yielded Hall of Fame career

There's a certain irony in the fact that Oklahoma State's fifth contribution to the Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame was better known for his exploits on the football field during his time in Stillwater.

Jack Hartman, a 1950 OSU graduate and multi-sport athlete, will be inducted posthumously as part of the hall of fame's 2024 class. He played for and coached under Henry Iba before launching his own successful collegiate coaching career: first at Coffeyville Junior College, where he won the 1962 national championship, then at Southern Illinois, which he led to the 1967 NIT title, and finally at Kansas State, where he won three Big Eight regular season crowns and earned national coach of the year honors. Hartman also led the United States to a gold medal at the 1983 Pan American Games.

Hartman, who passed away in 1998 at age 73, joins Henry Iba, Don Haskins, his former teammate Bob Kurland and one of his former freshman team players, Eddie Sutton as Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees with Oklahoma State ties.

A native of Webb City, Okla., Hartman arrived in Stillwater in the fall of 1943 on a basketball scholarship. However, because World War II enlistments had thinned rosters across campus, he decided to give football a try. Though he had no previous playing experience, Hartman was a natural athlete who quickly worked his way up to second string quarterback behind fellow freshman Bob Fenimore (who would later be enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame).

When the season concluded, Hartman returned to basketball and helped the Aggies to a then-school record 27 wins and the NIT. The semifinal against DePaul was a highly anticipated matchup between All-American centers Kurland and George Mikan, as well as legendary head coaches Iba and Ray Meyer. Few would have guessed that a fifth future Collegiate Basketball Hall of Famer was also present. Hartman scored just 20 points in 18 appearances that season before hanging up his high-tops.

After serving in the U.S. Navy as a radioman in the South Pacific, Hartman returned to OSU in 1947 but decided to focus exclusively on football. With Fenimore off to the NFL, Hartman quarterbacked the 1948 Aggies to a Missouri Valley Conference title and a bowl appearance. He then earned first-team all-conference honors the following year, breaking Fenimore's single-season record for pass completions (86 for 1,278 yards and 10 touchdowns).

Hartman had a brief stint in the Canadian Football League before embarking on a long coaching career that began in the high school ranks. Iba brought him on as an assistant for the 1954-55 season, putting him in charge of a freshman roster that included an 18-year-old Eddie Sutton.

Hartman's first collegiate head coaching job came the following year at Coffeyville Junior College in southeastern Kansas. Across seven seasons (1955-62), he guided Coffeyville to a 165-62 record. His final team made history as the first undefeated national junior college champion, finishing 32-0.

From 1962 to 1970, Hartman helped Southern Illinois make a difficult transition from the small-college division (now Division II) to major-college status (Division I). According to a 1997 profile in the Southern Illinoisan, SIU athletic director Don Boydston—himself an OSU graduate—sought Iba's input before hiring Hartman over a group of finalists that included two other Hall-of-Fame coaches: Eddie Sutton and Gene Bartow.

Hartman quickly turned SIU into a winner, including taking two out of three games from his alma mater between 1962 and 1965. In December 1964, an OSU squad that went on to win the Big Eight title fell 78-55 in the grand opening of SIU's new 8,000-seat arena. The Salukis were national runners-up in the college-division tournament in 1965 and 1966, and likely would have won it in 1967 had Hartman not opted to chase an even bigger prize.

That 1966-67 SIU team, led by future NBA standout Walt Frazier, finished 24-2 with victories over No. 2 Louisville and defending national champion Texas Western (coached by Don Haskins). Though the NIT had never extended a bid to a small-college program, SIU's success prompted a historic exception. The Salukis declined an offer to the Division II tournament and instead traveled to Madison Square Garden, where they defeated St. Peter's, Duke, Rutgers, and Marquette to capture the 1967 NIT championship.

SIU completed its move to Division I by the 1968-69 season and returned to the NIT that spring. A year later, Hartman moved on to Kansas State, where he stayed for 16 years (1970-87).

During his tenure at K-State, Hartman won 294 games, three Big Eight regular-season titles, and two conference tournament championships. He guided the Wildcats to seven NCAA Tournament appearances, reaching the Elite Eight on three occasions. Hartman was twice named Big Eight Coach of the Year and, in 1981, received the NABC National Coach of the Year award after guiding his eighth-seeded Wildcats on an improbable run to the West Region final, upsetting No. 1 seed Oregon State and No. 4 seed Illinois along the way.

In 1983, Hartman added another major accolade to his resume by coaching the U.S. national team—featuring Michael Jordan and Chris Mullin—to a gold medal at the Pan American Games in Caracas.

Including his junior college career, Hartman's teams posted a combined record of 589-279 over 31 seasons.

Hartman's legacy endures through his extensive coaching tree. Six of his former assistants went on to lead Division I programs: Bob Gottlieb (Milwaukee, Jacksonville), Tim Jankovich (SMU, Illinois State, North Texas), Lon Kruger (Oklahoma, UNLV, Atlanta Hawks, Illinois, Florida, K-State, UTPA), Jim Molinari (Western Illinois, Bradley, Northern Illinois), Joe Ramsey (Oklahoma), and Brad Underwood (Illinois, Oklahoma State, Stephen F. Austin).

Hartman will be joined in the Class of 2024 by former standouts Dave Meyers (UCLA), Sihugo Green (Duquesne), Lennie Rosenbluth (North Carolina), Wayne Estes (Utah State), Sam Lacey (New Mexico State), John Rudometkin (USC), and Tom Stith (St. Bonaventure). Induction dates and details will be announced soon.

Collegiate Basketball Hall of Famers with OSU Ties:

Henry Iba – Head Coach (1934-70) – Class of 2006
Bob Kurland – Player (1942-46) – Class of 2006
Don Haskins – Player (1949-52) – Class of 2006
Eddie Sutton – Player (1955-58), Assistant (1958-59) – Class of 2011
Jack Hartman – Player (1943-44), Assistant (1954-55) – Class of 2024

Oklahoma State University Athletics

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