You often wonder what happens to coaches after they leave the Ironton area. I thought I would start a series called “Where Are They Now”. The first coach in the series will be Jim Rockwell.
Coach Rockwell coached New Lexington football to a 144-27-8 record from 1959 to 1976. He coached the 1970 and 1976 teams to the Class AA AP/UPI poll state titles. Coach Rockwell also coached unbeaten teams in 1961, 1964 and 1974. He coached 10 Muskingum Valley League championship teams, including eight straight from 1969 to 1976. Coach Rockwell was named Southeastern Ohio Coach of the year six times and coaches in the North-South game in 1971. He also coached basketball from 1959 to 1964, was head track coach from 1959 to 1973 and guided the Panthers to 12 consecutive MVL track titles. He was also New Lexington High Athletic Director from 1965 to 1976 and was inducted into the Ohio Athletic Directors Hall of Fame in 1984. Also in 1984, the school’s football stadium was named after him. In 1942, he graduated from Washington, Pa. High School, where he participated in football, basketball and track. He played in the Big 33 all-star football game and went on to play at Marshall University, helping the Thundering Herd win the 1948 Mid-American Conference Championship. He was head basketball and assistant football coach at Ironton from 1951 to 1955 and Wellston from 1955 to 1959. Coach Rockwell was named Southeastern Ohio Athletic League basketball coach of the year in 1957.
Next in the series will be former head football coach at Ironton Bob Bruney.
Joe Holtzapfel
That is a pretty impressive record he compiled at New Lexington.
He was SEOAL basketball coach of the year in 1957. That’s funny, that’s the year I graduated from St Joe. LOL I do remember Coach Rockwell being at Ironton.
Ralph Snead would have been on that team. Buddy Bell and Tom Phillips may have been.
Looks like I was wrong. Buddy Bell and Tom Phillips graduated in 1956.
Tim, Jim Rockwell left Ironton in 1956 and went to New Lex. That is where he became COY in the SEOAL. You are right about Snead being on the 1957 Ironton team. Ralph and I are very good friends and we still go play golf together every Wednesday morning in the summer. I do remember Gus Bell and Tommy Phillips playing basketball and if I’m not mistaken, Phillips was QB on the football team.
I’m sorry I’m getting ahead of myself. Coach Rockwell was Coach at Wellston at that time.
Do you know if Ralph still holds the record for points scored in a basketball game at IHS? I believe it was 47 points. It was still the record when I was there.
Not sure if he does or not. I’ll find out and let you know. I do know Jim Mahlmeister holds the record at St Joe with 50. Did it in 1957. Jim and Ralph both played without a 3 point line.
OK here is the story I get from Jack Leonard by way of Turk Donahue, Jack says he remembers Ralph setting the record very well. He scored 45 points to set the record but it has been broken once and maybe twice. The first time by Ty Barnes and we think the second time by Ty Davis. I do know that Dennis Gagai scored 48 against Huntington High the year they won the State in W.Va.but he didn’t set the scoring record for a single game so it must be higher than 48. Dennis did set the record for most points scored in a career.
Well I went back and checked my records and found that Dennis only scored 39 against Huntington High. Tim, my memory is getting weak in my old days. Dennis did set the record for a career with 1595 points.
I thought about Barnes on my way to work this morning and thought he may be the one to have broken it if it had been broken. I don’t remember Ty Davis but I was out of the loop for several years on Tiger basketball after leaving Ironton.
Just found this article. Coach Rockwell is my father. I am Jim Rockwell, Jr. (New Lex fans call me Little Rock) I was born in Ironton in 1953 while Dad was on the Tiger coaching staff. We did move to Wellston in 1955 or 1956 and I do remember Dad coaching basketball at WHS. We moved to New Lex in 1959 when I started first grade. Dad was the head coach in three sports (Football, Basketball, Track) until ’65. I played Tailback and Safety on the ’70 State Championship team. Dad was named the Class AA Ohio Coach in ’70 and I was named the Class AA Ohio Back of the Year in ’70. Dad also coached me to All-Ohio status in track in the Low Hurdles in ’71. I started 4 years at Tailback for Muskingum– even though Dad coached the night before , he did not miss one game during my college career. Dad passed away too soon in 1985. Yes, he was a great coach, but he was even a better father.