Marion Crawley
High School: Greencastle 1926
College: DePauw University 1930
During a 35-year coaching career with tenures at Greencastle, Washington and Lafayette Jefferson, Crawley had a record of 644-231 with four state championships — 1941 and 1942 at Washington as well as 1948 and 1964 at Lafayette Jefferson.
Along the way, his teams won 32 sectionals (including a record 23 in a row during his 24 seasons at Lafayette Jefferson), 21 regionals and 14 semi-states. The also posted three state runner-up finishes in addition to the four state titles. He coached basketball for seven seasons at Greencastle, four at Washington and 24 at Lafayette Jefferson.
Crawley had a 41-year career in education and also doubled for many years as the Lafayette Jefferson athletic director, retiring from that position in 1973. For 20 seasons, he was a football coach (three at Greencastle, four at Washington and 13 at Lafayette Jefferson), posting an overall mark of 119-52-10, winning five North Central Conference title and finishing as the state’s No. 1-ranked team in 1950.
Crawley was one of the founders of the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association in 1970 and served as the organization’s first executive director from 1970-74. He stepped back into the role of IBCA assistant executive director in 1974 until he passed away on Feb. 23, 1982.
Born in Putnamville on Oct. 30, 1908, Crawley was a 1930 graduate of DePauw University, where he lettered in basketball, football and baseball. He earned a master’s degree from Columbia University in 1935.
Crawley was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1964, the Indiana Football Hall of Fame in 1977 and the DePauw University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1986. The gymnasium complex at Lafayette Jefferson was named in his honor in 1970. He received a Sagamore of the Wabash in 1980 from Gov. Otis Bowen and also served on the IHSAA Council, IHSAA Board of Control and the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame board of directors.
Click here to view the PDF document with the history of the Marion Crawley Award Winners.