2-28-2022 3:55pm

From the Desk of Brian Bales: Passing of John Powell

Beth Callahan Editor

FRANKLIN, OH -- It is with sadness that I report John Powell has passed. John was born on February 16, 1936 in Franklin, Ohio graduated from Franklin in 1954. He was inducted into Franklin's Hall of Fame 2018. Colleges: Miami University (1958), Xavier University (1964)

A graduate of Franklin High School, Powell had a stellar career as a guard at Miami University. He scored 1,106 points over three seasons – two of which ended with Miami playing in the NCAA Tournament.

He averaged 15 points per game in each season with a high of 15.9 in 1956-57, when he was a first-team All-Mid-American Conference choice. With Powell in a 1957-58 lineup that included Wayne Embry and Jim Thomas, Miami went undefeated (12-0) through its Mid-American Conference schedule – a feat that still has not been duplicated.

Those Redskins upset Pittsburgh, 82-77, in a first-round game at Evanston, Ill., before losing to eventual champion Kentucky.

On Dec. 18, 1957, he scored 43 points at Marshall, which is still tied for the third best single-game output in Miami history. Powell's Miami University teams were inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016.

After graduation, Powell coached high school teams at Springboro and Washington Court House before spending 30 years as a professor and an administrator at the University of Central Florida.