Willie Tuggle earned four letters in basketball while scoring 1,387 points during his career at Findlay, ranking 23rd on the UF career scoring list. He also earned an All Mid-Ohio First Team award and a Second Team award, and was named to the NAIA District 22 Second Team as a senior. Tuggle was twice named as the team’s Most Valuable Player and twice served as a team captain. According to a Republican Courier account from that time, “When people talk of Findlay College basketball, talk of a smooth 5’11” guard with a deadly jump shot from the top of the key pops into the conversation. By name he is this year’s captain, Willie Tuggle.”
Tuggle also earned four letters as a baseball pitcher and posted a 4-1 record when the Oilers were Mid-Ohio Co-Champions in 1962. Tuggle has remarked, “There is nothing more valuable in preparing for one’s life than being a member of an athletic team composed of so many diversified individuals and personalities.”
Besides being gifted athletically, Tuggle was honored with the first Founder’s Day Son Award in 1964, and he was named to Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. He was a member of the Sigma Tau Delta fraternity.
Tuggle resides in Ravenna, Ohio, with his wife of nearly 50 years, Judith and his daughter Kelly and son Scott. He is a retired English teacher, having first taught for two years in his home state of Indiana and another 35 years with the Akron Public Schools.
