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.”
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…the Hall of Fame.”
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.” – Contributed by Dan Thompson, director of communications at FUMA
