Bowling Green State University Athletics
Fran Voll: BGSU Hall Of Fame Inductee
September 11, 2002 | General
Sept. 11, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University Athletic Hall of Fame will welcome four new members on Friday evening (Sept. 13). The 2002 class will be inducted during a formal dinner on the BGSU campus.
The class of 2002 will include men's soccer player Rob Martella '94, hockey player Greg Parks, women's basketball coach Fran Voll '68 and track athlete and coach Tom Wright, Ph.D. '66.
The official induction ceremony will take place Friday (Sept. 13) in the grand ballroom of BGSU's new Bowen-Thompson Student Union. The social hour begins at 6:00 p.m. with dinner served at 7:00 p.m. and the program starting shortly thereafter.
In addition, the class will be introduced at halftime of Saturday's (Sept. 14) BGSU-Missouri football game at Doyt Perry Stadium. The game begins at 6:00 p.m. and is designated as Varsity BG & Hall of Fame Night.
Tickets for the Friday (Sept. 13) dinner are $30 and advance reservations are required. Tickets can be reserved by calling the Falcon Club office at (419) 372-7063 before the close of business Thursday (Sept. 12). Football game tickets can be purchased through the ticket office at 1-877-BGSUTICKET or (419) 372-0000.
The following is the third in a series of articles profiling each of the four inductees:
Fran Voll guided the women's basketball program at his alma mater to heights never before reached at BGSU. He compiled a 144-60 record in seven years as head coach, while leading the Falcons to four NCAA Tournament appearances, four MAC Tournament titles, and three MAC regular season championships. His teams compiled a sparkling 89-27 record in MAC regular season play and a 10-3 record in MAC Tournament play.
In 1988-89, Voll led the Falcons to a 69-59 win over Cincinnati at Anderson Arena in the NCAA Tournament, the first win by a women's basketball team from the MAC in the national tournament. The game was played before 4,100 fans, at the time the largest crowd in the history of the program.
Voll led the 1986-87 and 1988-89 teams to perfect 16-0 records in MAC play, and was named the MAC Coach of the Year in each of those seasons. He was the NCAA District IV Coach of the Year in 1987.
Voll coached one academic All-American, one freshman All-American, a Naismith Award winner and two MAC Freshmen of the Year while at BGSU. Voll's student-athletes had a 100% graduation rate during his seven seasons.
Voll, a native of Marion, Ohio, had a high school coaching mark of 208-17 (.924) at Delphos St. John's, and was the winningest high school girls' basketball coach in the nation prior to coming to BGSU in 1984. While at St. John's, Voll's teams won three state titles in nine years, and he was twice named Ohio prep coach of the year.
Voll's overall collegiate coaching record is 187-134 (.583), including a 116-68 (.630) mark in MAC games. He still ranks second in MAC history on the coaching wins lists, both overall and in league contests.
Voll, a 1968 graduate of BGSU, currently is the principal at Marion Catholic High School. He and his wife, Marty, reside in Marion, Ohio, and have three sons, Joe, Matt and Mike. All three sons are BGSU graduates who work in the field of education as administrators, teachers and/or coaches.
