Jack Hartman

Hartman played college basketball and football at Oklahoma State University with his basketball tutelage under famed coach Henry Iba.

Lon Kruger with Hartman in 1972

After college, he played quarterback in the CFL before becoming a basketball coach. After leading the Coffeyville Junior College basketball team to the NJCAA National Championship with a 32–0 season in 1962, he took his high-octane offense to Southern Illinois University, replacing Harry Gallatin, who left to take the head coaching job with the St. Louis Hawks. In 1967, missing out on the NCAA Division II tournament after two successive second-place finishes, Hartman's Salukis won the NIT Championship, which was much more highly regarded then than it is today. He led Southern Illinois University into Division I before taking over as head coach at Kansas State University when Cotton Fitzsimmons left to coach in the NBA.[1]

Hartman spent 16 seasons as head coach at Kansas State, where he won 294 games and finished in first or second place in the Big Eight Conference in 10 of those 16 seasons. After his retirement, he worked local television color commentary for Kansas State games, and his former player and assistant coach Lon Kruger took over as head coach at Kansas State.

Hartman is credited with introducing a different two-tone uniform, including lavender tops and purple shorts, for Kansas State to wear during its away games, which the Wildcats used from 1973–1982. During that stretch, Kansas State posted a record of 186–81 (.697), appeared in five NCAA Tournaments, and won the 1977 and 1980 Big Eight postseason tournaments. Lavender jerseys have since been associated with success at Kansas State, and the school has brought back lavender jerseys on certain occasions as a throwback uniform.[2]

In 1996, when Kansas State fired its women's coach for NCAA violations, Hartman came out of retirement to coach the team for its last seven games, winning three.[3]

Hartman was inducted into the Southern Illinois University Hall of Fame in 1986, the Kansas State University Hall of Fame in 1990, the Kansas State Sports Hall of Fame in 1990, and the National Junior College Hall of Fame in 1991.

Hartman died in 1998.[4] A street near Bramlage Coliseum, Jack Hartman Drive, was named in his honor. His wife, Pat, lived in Manhattan, Kansas, until her death in 2020. His daughter, Jackie, lives in Manhattan and served as the chief of staff for the president of Kansas State University.[5]