Education
Ohio State University.
Ohio State University.
He was a three-sport athlete at Ohio State University and a consensus first-team selection to the College Football All-America Team three straight years (1928–1930). Fesler was later the head football coach at Wesleyan University (1941–1942), the University of Pittsburgh (1946), Ohio State (1947–1950), and the University of Minnesota (1951–1953), compiling a career record of 41–40–8. He was also the head basketball coach at Harvard University (1933–1941) and Princeton University (1945–1946), tallying a mark of 67–108.
Fesler was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1954.
Fesler came to Ohio State from Youngstown, Ohio. He was a charter inductee in the Ohio State Varsity O Hall of Fame in 1977.
Football
Basketball
In basketball Fesler was a guard. He was the basketball captain as a junior in the Spring of 1930, and the football captain as a senior in the Autumn of that year.
He was Ohio State"s first consensus first-team All-America selection in basketball in 1931.
Fesler ignored interest from teams of the National Football League and instead pursued a career in coaching. He began his coaching career as an assistant to his Ohio State football coach, Sam Willaman, in 1931 and 1932. In 1933, Fesler accepted an offer from Harvard University as head coach of the basketball team and backfield coach of the football team
He stayed at Harvard until 1941.
His stint at Harvard turned out to be the longest tenure of his career. In 1941, Fesler accepted an offer from Wesleyan University to be the head coach of their football team
Unfortunately, the Wesleyan football program was interrupted in after the 1942 season by World World War World War II In 1945, Fesler accepted an offer from Princeton as head basketball coach and assistant football coach. He was later the head football coach at the University of Pittsburgh (1946), Ohio State (1947–1950) and the University of Minnesota (1951–1953).
Fesler had a stronger record as a football coach than as a basketball coach.
His combined record as a major college football head coach, at Pitt, Ohio State, and Minnesota, was 34–31–8. His combined record as basketball head coach at Harvard and Princeton was 67–108.
At Ohio State, Fesler was a member of both Pi Kappa Alpha and Phi Beta Kappa, earning a total of nine varsity letters in baseball, basketball, and football.