Fletcher Arritt, our legendary- and dare we say beloved? - head basketball coach throughout five decades, is soon to receive a capstone honor in a career that has been filled with accolades and trophies. On April 25, 2015, Fletcher Arritt will be inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, the sixth alumnus or coach from Fork Union to receive this high honor.
In announcing his selection as a member of the Class of 2015 to be inducted at the 44th Annual Induction Banquet, the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame press release described Arritt as "one of the most successful basketball coaches in the country, with 400 players going on to play in college, 200 of them at the Division 1 Level, and dozens going on to professional career in basketball." The press release went on to note that, "Fork Union won over 75 percent of its games during Arritt's tenure...a career record of 890 wins and 283 losses."
This year's busy Hall of Fame Weekend will be full of activities honoring Coach Arritt and his fellow inductees in the Class of 2015. The events begin on Friday morning with the 22nd Annual Celebrity Golf Tournament to be held at Bide-A-Wee Golf Course in Portsmouth, Virginia. The VIP Celebrity Reception follows on Friday evening at 7:00 PM in the Hall of Fame, at which the Class of 2015 display cases will be unveiled. Saturday morning features a Memorabilia Show from 9 AM to 2 PM, as well as an Autograph Session with the inductees from 12 PM to 1 PM at the Hall of Fame. Then will come the main event - the 44th Annual Induction Banquet on Saturday evening at the Renaissance Hotel & Waterfront Conference Center in Portsmouth, Virginia. Registration starts at 4:30 PM, the reception begins at 5:30 PM, and then the dinner and induction ceremony gets underway at 6:30 PM. Following the banquet, Fork Union Military Academy will host a private reception with our FUMA family and friends to honor and congratulate Coach Arritt.
Tickets for the Induction Banquet are available through the Academy's Development Office. The private reception hosted by the Academy is free, but you may register to attend with our Development Office as space will be limited. You do not need to attend the Induction Banquet in order to attend to the private reception. Please contact Mrs. Jamie Krogh in our Development Office (development@fuma.org or 434-842-4227) for information about the banquet and reception, or purchase banquet tickets online at: http://www.forkunion.com/vshf.
For tickets and information about all of the other weekend's activities, please contact the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame directly at 757-393-8031 or info@vshfm.com.
The Class of 2015 Inductees to be honored along with Fletcher Arritt include lacrosse great Cherie Greer Brown, former Detroit Tiger Johnny Grubb, soccer player Angela Hucles, longtime sports reporter Mike Stevens, NBA veteran Ben Wallace, and another outstanding high school basketball coach and one of Fletcher Arritt's favorite colleagues, Paul Hatcher.
A Biology Teacher...and a Coach
For forty-six years, he was a biology teacher. And he coached some basketball. "Mike Krzyzewski is paid $4 million a year to coach basketball at Duke," Fletcher Arritt pointed out in an interview shortly before his retirement from Fork Union Military Academy. "I think I've made an extra $1,500 a year to coach the basketball team. So he's a basketball coach. I'm basically a biology teacher."
Fletcher Arritt says this with a wry smile, and a characteristic twinkle in his eye. It's one of his most familiar expressions.
When asked whether he's better as a biology teacher or as a basketball coach, his face takes on that other familiar expression. It's a sharp, intelligent, passionate intensity. It's his game face.
"I teach the same way I coach," Arritt insists. We cover the basics, the fundamentals. My biology students learn the kingdoms, Protista-monera-fungi-plantae-animalia. They learn the plants: Bryophyta-anthophyta-pteridophyta-coniferophyta..."
He rattles off kingdom and phylum names so fast they sound like a single very long word.
It only takes a short time around him in the classroom or the gym to recognize that Fletcher Arritt is not just an ordinary biology teacher or basketball coach. He's one of the great ones.
"Good speed, and shoots well..."
Fletcher M. Arritt, Jr. first set foot on the campus of Fork Union Military Academy on April 24, 1959. Seventeen years old, Arritt had come to tryout for FUMA's basketball team.
At 6-feet tall, 130 pounds, Arritt had played guard for his high school basketball team in Fayetteville, West Virginia. He'd also been the starting quarterback on the football team, and a member of the track team.
Arritt's athletic prowess had earned him the distinction in 1957 of being the first high school junior ever to receive the Jack Johnson Award presented by the Fayetteville Business Mens' Association to the boy, usually a high school senior, displaying the most outstanding athletic characteristics.
Arritt showed up at FUMA with a letter of recommendation from his high school coach, Robert Brinkley. Coach Brinkley described Arritt as "a boy who has been my playmaker and leader for two years."
"He is 6-feet tall," Brinkley wrote, "good speed, and shoots well from the outside and can also be a good driver. He has averaged 19 points a game and can also play a good defensive game as well."
Coach Bill Miller, FUMA's basketball coach, was impressed with Arritt's outside jump shot and the young basketball guard was accepted to attend Fork Union Military Academy for the 1959-1960 academic year.
"The jump shot was unusual then," Arritt explains today. Although the game of basketball had been widely played since Dr. James Naismith invented it in the 1890s, the primary shot during the game's first fifty or sixty years was the two hand set shot. Players stood with both feet on the ground and shot the ball with both hands from chest high. Basketball was a low scoring game in those early decades of the sport. The United States won the first Olympic gold medal in basketball in 1936, beating Canada by the score of 19-8. The jump shot, which slowly gained popularity through the 1950s, was a much more effective shot, leading to higher scoring games. And Fletcher Arritt, Jr. had a very pretty jump shot.
The Family Business
It should come as no surprise that the young Arritt displayed a lot of athletic talent and skill.
If you were to visit Fayetteville, West Virginia, population 2,754, you might notice today that the Pirates of Fayetteville High School play their football games in the Fletcher Arritt Memorial Stadium. The football stadium is not named for the starting quarterback and multi-sport athlete, Fletcher M. Arritt, Jr., who played there in the late 1950s. No, it is named in honor of his father, Fletcher M. Arritt, Sr., one of West Virginia's most respected high school football coaches (who, as it happens, also taught biology).
Fletcher Arritt, Jr. was born into a family that was serious about athletics, academics, and their Christian faith. He learned firsthand what the life of a coach was like. He learned the value of competition, and the dedication it took to be successful. It was his father, as well, who nurtured his interest in biology, who taught him how to differentiate a white oak from a pin oak from a water oak. Perhaps most significantly, the younger Arritt also learned to value teaching and coaching as a means of Christian service to others.
After some years of teaching and coaching, Fletcher Arritt, Sr. earned an additional degree from West Virginia Wesleyan to prepare for a new career as a minister. The elder Arritt then accepted a post as pastor of a church, leaving his career in education behind. After a short while in the ministry, however, Pastor Arritt told his wife that he was having second thoughts. He realized that all of his work in the church was having little effect on the church members. Adults were pretty set in their ways, and it was difficult to effect much positive change in their lives. Arritt, Sr. told his wife that he was seriously thinking of going back to teaching and coaching, because at least he had a chance to help mold and develop young people in ways that helped improve their lives. Within days of this discussion, a car pulled into the Arritt's driveway, and Arritt's former supervisor from the Fayetteville schools got out. He'd come to try to convince Arritt to return to his teaching and coaching job because he was greatly missed and much needed there. So, just like that, Arritt hung up his minister's robe and took back his coach's whistle, returning to his career in education.
"That's why I've always thought of this school as an extension of the church," Fletcher Arritt, Jr. explains today. Thanks to his father's example that he witnessed as a boy, he views his career in teaching and coaching as an important part of his Christian service.
In a sense, throughout his career Fletcher Arritt, Jr. has been continuing in the family business, following in his father's footsteps.
From FUMA to UVA and Beyond
The wiry little guard with the pretty jump shot enrolled at Fork Union Military Academy in the fall of 1959. Arritt earned the role of team co-captain and his team played a tough schedule of two dozen games against opponents ranging from other military prep schools like Hargrave and Staunton, to freshman and junior varsity teams at Virginia Tech (then known as VPI), Maryland, and the University of Virginia.
Arritt's basketball skill won him a scholarship to the University of Virginia where he played on the varsity teams of 1962-63 and 1963-64. He received his B. S. degree in Biology and his M.Ed. degree in Human Biology from the University of Virginia.
After graduating from UVa, Arritt accepted a teaching job at Stonewall Jackson High School in northern Virginia and began his own career in education.
A Big Day in 1966
In the spring of 1966, Arritt returned to visit the campus of Fork Union Military Academy. There was an opening on staff for a biology teacher and Arritt had a job interview scheduled with COL J. C. Wicker, the Academy's president. Arritt arrived at the home of his former coach, Bill Miller, in the company of his college sweetheart, Betty Jean Hauser.
Fletcher and Betty Jean had met at UVa in 1964 when she and some friends from Madison College (now James Madison University) visited the UVa campus during the semester break. Betty Jean had arrived with her new Samsonite suitcase, but she had left the key to its lock at home. She knocked on the door across the hall, thinking that if she could find someone else with Samsonite luggage, perhaps their key might fit. Fletcher Arritt, Jr. answered her knock and was immediately smitten.
"She was pretty and I liked her all of a sudden," as Arritt tells it.
He told her that he certainly did have a key, but he'd have to look for it and bring it over to her. Arritt then immediately took off for the local Sears store and talked the salesman into giving him a Samsonite key for Betty Jean. The two dated throughout the next two years.
Arritt left Betty Jean in the company of Coach Miller's wife, Jell, as he and Coach Miller walked across the campus, talking about the upcoming job interview. Coach Miller encouraged Arritt to ask about housing during his job interview, as it was easier to get an apartment upon hiring than it was to wait until the school year began. Coach Miller also told Arritt that Fork Union was not a good place for a single man, being so far from Charlottesville and Richmond. Arritt evidently took his Coach's words to heart, because when he returned to Coach Miller's house after his interview, having accepted the offered job as biology teacher, Arritt proposed to Betty Jean on the spot. Greatly surprised, a tearful Betty Jean accepted.
On that memorable day in 1966, Fletcher Arritt gained a new job, a new home, and a wife.
The Start of 46 Years at FUMA
Arritt spent his first four years on faculty at Fork Union Military Academy teaching biology and serving as an assistant coach for the postgraduate basketball team under Coach Bill Miller. In 1970, Arritt took over as the team's head coach and the Arritt era of FUMA basketball began.
"I'm doing the same thing at 70 that I was at 25," Arritt said recently, the wry smile and twinkle firmly in place. "Who does that?"
In the past forty-six years, the Arritts have raised two sons, Benjamin and Fletcher III, and one daughter, Amy. Amy attended Fluvanna's public schools where her mother worked as a teacher. Both sons attended Fork Union Military Academy. Ben is now the CEO of a marketing company in Atlanta. Amy is now a clinical dietician at the University of Virginia. Fletcher III earned his doctorate in biology and teaches at North Carolina State.
They've also raised a few hundred basketball players. At least 400 players have gone on to play in college, about 200 of them at the Division I college level. Dozens of players have gone on to professional careers in international basketball, including at least one member of the popular Harlem Globetrotters entertainment team. Seven players have gone on to play at basketball's top professional level, in the NBA.
The Passing Game
"Basketball is the most beautiful game ever created," Coach Arritt enthuses.
Basketball is a game of motion and activity, a fast-paced chaotic jumble of action. Coach Arritt approached this beautiful game almost exactly the same way with each team he coached, from the 1970s to the present day.
On offense, his teams played a form of motion offense called "the passing game," a constant boiling stew of pass and cut, pass and screen activity that kept the ball moving from player to player until a weakness in the defense could be exploited for a score. On defense, his teams played a smothering basic man-to-man coverage.
That's it. No razzle dazzle, trick plays, or exotic zone defenses. When you played against Coach Arritt, you knew exactly what to expect: the passing game offense and man-to-man defense.
This free form offense didn't rely on set plays with pre-designed passes and cuts. With no plays to practice, more time could be spent on developing the fundamental skills of basketball: shooting, passing, and ball handling. A player who mastered the passing game offense under Coach Arritt became a well-rounded, complete player, skilled in the fundamentals. On top of that, Coach Arritt's man-to-man defense required players to cover the court with great skill, cooperation, intelligence, and a high level of intensity. In short, Coach Arritt developed each player's individual skill in the fundamentals to the highest possible level, and then required them to play a style of game that emphasized team effort over individual playmaking.
The Respect of His Peers
Coach Arritt's consistent approach year after year, his great care in teaching his players to pay attention to the small details that lead to greater success, and his emphasis on building fundamentally-sound players who played with intensity earned him the respect of top college coaches across the nation.
"No coach that I've been aware of during my time in basketball," states Hall of Fame college coach Bob Knight, "did a better job of preparing kids for college than Fletcher did with his kids at Fork Union. I think he has made a tremendous contribution to the game of basketball, a contribution that is worthy of consideration to the Hall of Fame."
Bob Knight made his pitch for Coach Arritt's inclusion in the Hall of Fame during an interview for a film documentary on Coach Arritt entitled "The Passing Game" being shot by filmmaker and former Arritt player, Phil Wall. Wall was able to schedule on-camera interviews with many top college coaches including Roy Williams, Bill Guthridge, Rick Barnes, Billy Donovan, Bill Self, Lefty Driesell, Dave Odom, Tubby Smith, and many more. The fact that these coaches would give their time to sit down with a first-time filmmaker is a testament to their high regard for Fletcher Arritt, the subject of the documentary film.
These coaches have known and respected Fletcher Arritt for many years. When Bob Knight wanted an evaluation of his son Patrick, he took him to Fork Union to workout for Coach Arritt. Tubby Smith and Dave Odom both sent sons to FUMA to play for Arritt.
"Fletcher Arritt can coach any team, anywhere, anytime," states Seth Greenberg, head coach of Virginia Tech in the ACC, considered by many to be the best conference in college basketball. "NBA, college, Division I, ACC, Big East, SEC, PAC10, it makes no difference. Coaching is coaching. It sounds silly, I'm coaching in the ACC and I have Fletcher Arritt up on a pedestal."
Billy Donovan, coach of the University of Florida Gators whose teams won consecutive NCAA National Championships in 2006 and 2007, stated it simply: "He has to go down as one of the greatest coaches of all time."
Time to Retire
"Your body tells you when it's time to go," Arritt says simply. "My father was a coach for nearly forty years and he once told me, 'You'll know when it happens. You'll know when it's time to do something else.'"
In December 2010, Arritt went to the doctor to check out a lump he'd discovered in his neck. The biopsy came back just before Christmas. It was stage 3 lymphoma cancer. The tumor was removed and Arritt was scheduled to begin chemotherapy treatments. Arritt continued to teach his biology class and coach his basketball team, only missing days when his chemotherapy is scheduled.
"What I think can happen is, if my players and others see that I can get through it with my attitude, then they'll have more confidence," Arritt says. "That's what I believe in."
"There's only one thing worse than cancer and that's coaching basketball and having cancer," Arritt told writer and longtime friend, Jerry Ratcliffe of the Charlottesville Daily Progress. "But it's just like anything else. You go out and play. You learn that in athletics. If you're eight points down at the half, you still have to go out and play. You don't change anything, you just do what you do."
The Final Home Game
The M. C. Thomas Gymnasium began to fill early that Monday evening late in February. The word had gone out: Coach Arritt was retiring and this was to be his final home game. The Corps of Cadets filled one side of the bleachers. Every other nook and cranny was filled with FUMA family and friends.
Fork Union jumped to an early lead over rival Fishburne Military School, and held a slim 42-41 advantage at the half. Fishburne began edging ahead in the second half. It seemed that the shots wouldn't drop for FUMA in the second half. The gym began to fall silent as the minutes counted off and the Fishburne lead lengthened.
Alumnus Danny Spry sprung out of the bleachers and raced across the front of the Corps of Cadets raising his arms like a General rallying his troops. Once again the Corps came to life. "DEFENSE! DEFENSE!" They stomped, they yelled, they clapped and clamored.
As the clock ticked down the final minute, Fishburne holding a double-digit lead, the Corps of Cadets responded with that innate intelligence they always show in game situations. The cadets always know how to get under the opponent's skin; they always know how to shore up the home team's defenses. They always know exactly the right thing to cheer. It's uncanny.
"We love Arritt! the Corps chanted thunderously. "We love Arritt!"
In that amazing moment, Coach Arritt looked up, his game face still on, but for the first time not watching his players with eagle-eyed intensity. He slowly raised his right hand and waved to the cadets.
All of a sudden, it seemed that wins and losses meant little. A life well-lived meant all.
The moment passed. The buzzer sounded. And an "L" was added to the Arritt record.
So just what was going through Coach Arritt's mind in that final minute?
"It was a horror show. It was horrible. It was misery," Coach Arritt still insists a few weeks after the game, his stock look of intensity firmly in place. "Losing like that in front of so many former players and alumni."
No coach worth his whistle will ever admit that sometimes - just sometimes - it's not so important, those wins and losses. Coach Arritt's game face seems impenetrable.
But what about that cheer in the final minute?
The coach's face softens, but just a bit. "I love the Corps. They know me. I know them. I love the Corps."
Finally, after a moment, the twinkle and wry smile emerge. "I've had a wonderful life here. I wouldn't change a thing."
Fork Union Sports Hall of Fame
It was an emotional evening that summer of 2012 when Fletcher Arritt was inducted into Fork Union Military Academy's Sports Hall of Fame. Shammond Williams, whose scoring records still stand unbroken at the University of North Carolina and who played alongside the likes of Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers in a long and successful pro basketball career, gave the speech introducing Coach Arritt to receive his Hall of Fame plaque. There was hardly a dry eye in the room as Williams tearfully expressed his gratitude to the coach who had changed his life and opened up opportunities for him to succeed in college and beyond.
The emotions got even more powerful when, in his acceptance speech, Coach Arritt announced that he had been given a clean bill of health and was cancer-free. He had defeated cancer, just as he had defeated seventy-five percent of the opponents he faced on the basketball court. In a career that had seen 890 wins on the court, this was perhaps his greatest victory of all.
Virginia Sports Hall of Fame
Now, we prepare for another great evening at the prestigious Virginia Sports Hall of Fame where Fletcher Arritt will take his place alongside other great members of the Fork Union Military Academy family in the Hall of Fame, including:
Ed Merrick, Class of 1980 Inductee, head football coach at Fork Union from 1946-1950
Melvin "Meb" Davis, Class of 1984 Inductee, Athletic Director at Fork Union from 1927-1930
Ulmo "Sonny" Randle, Class of 1991 Inductee, Fork Union alumnus and NFL great wide receiver
Charles "Rosie" Thomas, Class of 1993 Inductee, Fork Union alumnus and longtime coach
John Hilton, Class of 2008 Inductee, Fork Union alumnus and outstanding NFL tight end