He coached champions—and built character, too
Gene Millard scored the first basket at St. John Arena and, as a coach, taught grit, grace and how to treat people like family.
Gene Millard was named to the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame for his coaching at Bexley High School, including 404 wins and 22 titles. (Photo courtesy of Mike Millard)
James “Gene” Millard ’57, ’71 MA didn’t have to say a lot during games to the players on his Bexley High School basketball teams. “He’d look at us, shake his head and we knew we better pick things up,” says former player John Betz. “And we did, because we didn’t want to disappoint him.”
Millard, 90, died in April, leaving behind a life devoted to his family and the hundreds of players he coached and taught at Bexley. “He demanded a lot out of you, but he taught us how to fight through adversity, the value of hard work, how to be good teammates, and he helped every player in their lives after high school,” says Rich Gatterdam ’89, captain of the 1983 Bexley squad that won the state championship. Betz was a sophomore on the team.
Millard was captain of the 1956-57 Ohio State basketball team, an undersized, scrappy point guard who knew how to play the game. He scored the first basket at St. John Arena, on Dec. 1, 1956, a layup seconds after the opening tip-off of a 98-82 win over Butler. Millard worked as an Ohio State assistant coach for a year, then taught and coached at Washington Court House High for four years before settling in at Bexley in 1962 to teach, coach and build one of the region’s best basketball programs. He came out of retirement for a second time in 1998 and coached the Bexley girls’ team to a district title, then retired permanently.
Millard was elected to the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011, his teams having won 404 games, 15 league titles and seven district championships. He also served as Bexley’s athletic director from 1986 to 1999.
“I’m most proud of how he treated everyone off the court. He treated everyone like they were family,” says Mike Millard, who played for his father at Bexley. Family was everything to Gene, who met his wife, Sally, in eighth grade. They were together until her death in 2024. The couple had two sons, Mike and Todd, who both played for their father, and two daughters, Becky, a gymnastics standout at Bexley who died in 1987, and Mindy.
On Feb. 28, 1998, the Ohio State men played Penn State in the final basketball game at St. John before the men’s and women’s teams moved to the new Schottenstein Center. After the game, a loss, Millard was brought onto the court to make one last ceremonial basket. “Everyone thought he’d make a layup and that would be it,” Mike says. “He did, everyone applauded and then he walked back to the three-point line, raised one finger in the air, shot and …”
Nothing but net.
