COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Former Tennessee Tech basketball standout
Herbie Merritt, a member of the TTU Sports Hall of Fame, died
Saturday at the age of 79.
Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday from the chapel of
Whitson Funeral Home with burial at Smyrna Cemetary. The family
will receive friends Monday from 5-9 p.m. at Whitson Funeral home
in Cookeville, and Tuesday after 7 a.m.
Merritt was inducted into the TTU Sports Hall of Fame in 1988, a
tribute to his standout basketball career for the Golden Eagles
between 1953 and 1958. He was an 11th round NBA Draft pick in 1958
by the Detroit Pistons, the 76th player taken overall. One of just
five players in school history to average a double-double for his
career, he ranked sixth in the Tech record book in rebounding with
834 and 22nd in scoring with 1,168 points in 88 career games.
With Merritt manning the middle of the lineup, the Golden Eagles
captured the 1955-56 and 1957-58 Ohio Valley Conference
Championships. He was chosen first-team all-OVC as a senior.
He was a counselor for the Plateau Mental Health Center. He is survived by a son, Bert Merritt of Cookeville; daughter, Lynn Huggins of Brentwood, Tenn.; brother, Albert E. Merritt; sisters, Elizabeth Ann Taylor and Mildred Greer; grandchildren, Shelby Merritt, Sarrah Marritt, Shailee G. Merritt, Leigh Ann Weaver, Bryan Huggins and Matthew Huggins; great grandchildren, Aubrey Weaver and Sidney Weaver.