Ray Louthen, a longtime Ball State athletic director, coach and administrator, died last Friday. He was 79.
Louthen worked in Ball State athletics from 1959 to 1986. From 1959 to 1970, he coached baseball for Ball State, turning around a program that had won a combined seven games in the three seasons prior to his arrival. During his 12 years as coach, only two of his teams finished below .500 in winning percentage.
From 1962-1967, he led the football team to a winning season every year, including a 9-0 season in 1965 when they appeared in the Grantland Rice Bowl, the team's first bowl appearance. Two years later, the team again appeared in the same bowl. His record during his time as football coach was 37-13-3.
But perhaps his greatest accomplishment while working at Ball State was his 11 years of work as athletic director. During his tenure, he played a prominent role in Ball State's acceptance into NCAA status and the Mid-American Conference. Men's tennis coach Bill Richards said Ball State's approval for NCAA status and acceptance into the MAC "was a turning point in the history of Ball State athletics."
President John Pruis, Chairman of the School of Physical Education John Reno and Louthen led Ball State to NCAA status and into the MAC.
"At that time, the MAC was the best thing that Ball State could become associated with," Richards said. It was a landmark event in the history of Ball State, and Ray had a huge hand in it."
For Richards, Louthen's death is a personal loss. Richards was hired in 1973 by Louthen -- a position he holds 35 years later -- and said Louthen took a chance in hiring him. At the young age of 24, Richards hoped for the job, but wasn't confident because of his age. Louthen took a chance, and Richards said he's "forever indebted."
"When I came back in the fall (after being hired), I'd grown a mustache. Ray was very old-fashioned, so I got the hint real quick that he wasn't liking it, and I shaved it off. The first day he saw me after I shaved it, he pulled me aside and said, 'There's the tennis coach I hired,'" Richards said.
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