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Don Ault

  • Class
  • Induction
    1996
  • Sport(s)
    Football, Coach/Administrator

    A standout performer on West Liberty's back-to-back undefeated football teams in 1949 and 1950, Don Ault went on to earn multiple honors during an outstanding high school and college coaching career.
    Ault was a team captain for legendary head coach Joe Bartell's 1949 and 1950 Hilltopper squads, which compiled an impressive 18-0-1 combined record after capping each season with bowl game victories. After graduation, Ault entered the coaching profession and became an Ohio Valley coaching legend. He earned numerous coaching awards, highlighted by his selection as the 1966 Ohio High School Coach of the Year. That honor recognized his Bellaire High squad's record-setting undefeated season when the Big Reds averaged a then-state record 48.7 points per game.
    He then took his talents to the collegiate ranks as an assistant at Marshall and Bethany before taking the head coaching reins at Bethany in 1973. His Bison won two PAC titles and finished second three times. He was honored as the 1980 Eastern Intercollegiate Football Officials Coach of the Year after leading Bethany to the NCAA Division III playoffs. At the time of his induction, Ault had just been named Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Coach of the Year after leading a dormant Slippery Rock (Pa.) program to seven wins in his first season.

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