Dr. Paul Evan Hartman was born in Englewood, N.J. in 1935. The family moved frequently as his father was in YMCA work. His 1953 high school graduation was in Worthington, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus, Ohio.
Paul started his Ohio State career as a student-athlete. He was a three-sport athlete for the Buckeyes, competing for the men’s gymnastics and soccer teams in addition to lacrosse. On the men’s lacrosse team, he was a letter-winner in 1955, 1956, and 1957. Thus he became the first Buckeye to earn All-American Honors in 1957.
He met Janie Decker in 1957 and they were married 11 months later in 1958. Son Jeffery Evan was born in 1961, and his brother, Richard Paul, arrived in 1964. They dearly loved raising their sons.
During his All-American season, he led the team in scoring 43 points and 38 goals. Also he was a two-time All Midwest Lacrosse League Honoree. Hartman went on to coach the Buckeyes from 1960-1966, leading the team to a 60-45-2 record, and an undefeated 14-0 campaign in ‘66. He helped the Buckeyes to first place finishes in the Midwest Lacrosse Association in his last two seasons at the helm.
Hartman was inducted into the Ohio State Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1998 and became an Ohio State Athletics Hall of Famer in 2000. He also was named the 1974 Man of the Year by the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association. He was a three-time graduate of The Ohio State University, earning his bachelor’s degree in 1957, his master’s degree in 1985, and his doctorate degree in 1963.
For the last 20 years, the OSU Lacrosse team has an award – The Paul Hartman Most Improved Player – named for the Buckeyes former coach to honor the most improved player. This honors his work in turning three losing seasons into three winning seasons for the Buckeyes. The scoreboard at the Ohio State Lacrosse Stadium is also named in his honor. To put himself through school he joined the Army ROTC program to become a tank commander captain. Leaving active duty, he began his teaching career and later into college administration. While still at OSU he wrote “The Fundamentals of Lacrosse” and “The Fundamentals of Volleyball,” both published by Merrill Publishing Co.
He began his professional career as a science teacher and assistant coach in Westerville, Ohio – a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. In the spring of 1969, The Ohio State University called to offer him the position of instructor and varsity head lacrosse coach. During those years he served on several national committees, as he did at other schools. Twice he was a coach for the North-South lacrosse teams. Once for the North Team while at OSU and once for the South Team when at Plymouth State College in Plymouth, N.H.
In the summer of 1966 he began his administrative careers. In Plymouth, N.H. he was chairman of physical education and athletic director at Plymouth State College. He started six sports and coached four of them, as well as a variety of classes, eg. kinesiology. He created the New England Lacrosse League. His new teams were league champions multiple times. Later he was inducted into the Plymouth Hall of Honor, which he had created years earlier.
In 1972 he created Florida International University’s education department’s graduate and master’s programs in the division of physical education, health, recreation as well as the Division 11 athletic programs. There were 10 sports: five for men and five for women. He gave the first woman’s scholarship in Division 2 in golf to Pat Bradley. As a professional golfer, Pat was the top women’s moneymaker for 20 years. He met Simon Darro, who flew him down to Columbia in South America to meet with the Escoles des Cortes (Sports Federation). Back in Miami, Fla. he recruited student-athletes in soccer, wrestling, tennis, and basketball. In 1974 they flew to Columbia for these competitions.
In Tulua en le Vallee de Caucua, Carlos Potes read of their visit. His community was trying to develop a new university and they wanted a USA style physical education program curriculum. At that time there were 800 P.E. teachers in their country with thousands of positions with no teachers to fill them. Five times Paul flew down to create such a curriculum. In 1975 since Tulsa’s students had never seen a physical education class, he created a three-week workshop for them in Miami, Fla. On his fifth trip the professors and students were thrilled to inform him that the curriculum he had created had been used as a model for the other departments, eg. computers, education, etc. The result was that Columbia’s department of education acknowledged the struggling university to receive federal monies to help the university become a reality.
The FIU varsity teams did very well. He started the Florida Lacrosse Clinic in 1973. He helped 11 colleges and club teams to begin playing lacrosse. Later he was inducted into the South Florida Lacrosse Hall of Honor and was called “The father of South Florida lacrosse.” He created the Archie Stone Youth Lacrosse League in Dade County, Fla. For a variety of reasons in 1975, he was voted the National Lacrosse Man of the Year.
His third administration job in 1976 took him to the University of Wisconsin in Stevens Point, Wis. As athletic director he hired Dick Bennet, the 1976 Wisconsin Men’s High School Basketball Coach of the year. His son Tony is head basketball coach at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va. His coaching style is like his dad’s: successful. In 2019 Tony’s team won the men’s National Collegiate Basketball Championship.
Paul’s fourth and final move was to Division 111 Oakland University in Rochester, Mich. Their athletic programs were excellent. His last year there all OU’s Division 11 teams were exceptional. Both men’s and women’s swim teams were national champions. Their conference champions included men’s soccer, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, women’s volleyball, men’s golf, men’s baseball, and women’s tennis. Later he was inducted into Oakland Universities’ Hall of Honor, which he also had created years before. In the spring of 1989, Paul suffered a very severe heart attack. By 1994 doctors said “retire,” so he did.
In retirement in Maine he did many things: drank lots of hot chocolate with marshmallows and whipped cream, remodeled their home, built furniture, eg. kitchen pantry and cupboards and cabinets, began carving/painting birds eg. American bald eagles, hummingbirds, chickadees, carved Shaker-style molds and wove brown ash baskets 3 1/2 inches in diameter down to ones that sit on a dime. Outdoor activities included swimming, sailing, canoeing, kayaking, golfing, and hiking tall mountains and trails in summertime. In wintertime it was downhill and cross-country skiing and snowshoeing.
Paul had built their wooden log cabin in the Maine woods by Lake Mooselookmeguntic in Oquossoc. They had spent 54 years there in summers into fall seasons. Their many trips included most national parks – even to Alaska – and many state parks, as well as all Canadian provincial parks and many of the cities. To celebrate their golden wedding anniversary, they created a six-week trip to New Zealand and eastern Australia. Snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef was great. The Sydney Opera House was beautiful and the zoo was fantastic. Their last big trip was a Rhode Scholar trip to Greece and Turkey. They flew to Paris, France over Easter weekend and then flew on to Greece. By boat they landed in Turkey for the rest of the tour. A flight from Istanbul landed them in Israel. They stayed in the Jerusalem YMCA for a few days. In 1946 Paul’s father was the physical director at this YMCA. Fighting between the Zionists and British troops became so severe they had to be evacuated in 1948. So they returned to the United States.
Paul wrote grandson Joshua that he enjoyed climbing tall mountains. At the summit he would look out at the beauty of God’s earth. He told Joshua that was where he felt closest to God. He wrote: “Grandson Joshua, as you will be getting older, someday you will strike out on your own. When you do, find a big rock to sit on. It should be beside a cold running stream by a singing waterfall. Your feet should feel the cool mist as water droplets float downstream to lead you into your next adventures.”
Paul is survived by his loving wife, Jane Decker Hartman, of Damariscotta; two sons, Jeff Hartman and his wife, Lucy, and Richard Hartman; sister, Glenna Higgins, of Ohio; and grandson, Joshua Hartman.
A memorial service will be held at The Second Congregational Church of Newcastle at a later date.
Arrangements are under the direction and care of the Strong-Hancock Funeral Home, 612 Main St., Damariscotta, ME 04543. Condolences, and messages for his family, may be expressed by visiting stronghancock.com.
