Gary Merrell

Thriving wherever basketball led him, Gary Merrell found success on the court as a player in both high school and college and then as a coach. A 1964 Northwestern High School graduate, Merrell scored 744
points in two years of varsity basketball, averaging 16 points per game. As a senior, he averaged 20.2 points per game for a 16-6 squad and was selected to the first Kokomo Tribune All Area Team in 1964.
Merrell then went on to play collegiately at the University of Findlay, scoring 1,017 career points at the NAIA school. He was recognized by the NAIA in 1967, winning the national E.S. Liston Memorial Award for scholarship, leadership and citizenship. Returning to coach in Indiana, Merrell embarked on a prosperous 39-year run on the high school hardwood, compiling 492 career wins at seven different schools. Merrell coached at Carroll (Flora), Madison, Seymour, DeKalb, Heritage, Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian, and Fort Wayne Smith Academy. In all, his teams earned 10 sectional championships, four regionals, and one semi-state. He led Blackhawk Christian to a 2004 1A State Runner-up finish. Merrell won nine Coach of the Year awards, including Kokomo Tribune Coach of the Year in 1979 during his stint at Carroll High School. He has been inducted into the athletic hall of fames of the University of Findlay (1992), Heritage High School (2013), Northwestern High School (2019), and the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame (2022). Gary and his wife, Ruth, reside in Fort Wayne and have five adult children: Piper Placencia (Ray), Myka Stutzman (Ben), Tanna Smith (Corey), Kiley Toney (Nick), and Dayton Merrell (Hope). Gary is currently working at Smith Academy, an all-boys charter school in Fort Wayne.