The late Aser Nurmi, whose nickname was “Paavo” or “Ace,” was born in Finland and came to the United States when he was about seven years old. He graduated from Painesville Harvey in 1934.
Nurmi was a four year cage letterman who played on two of Bluffton’s best teams prior to World War II. The 1934-35 team was 11-5. The 1935-36 team had Bluffton’s best all time record (percentage-wise) at 12-4 and was co-champion of the Northwest Ohio Conference. The Cleveland Press once called Nurmi “inch for inch the best player to appear on the Western Reserve court.” The former Bluffton captain recalls his greatest thrill as “racing down the court and throwing in a hook shot from the corner at the last second that gave the Beavers a one point win over previously undefeated Defiance.”
Nurmi played a few years of semi-pro basketball. He later served on a variety of community and professional boards.
Following his graduation in 1939 with a physical science major, Nurmi held various management positions with Industrial Rayon Corp. until 1972, when he joined R.W. Sidley Inc., as a group vice president operations and a director. He retired as vice president of that company in 1984 but remained on the boards.
Nurmi died in 2001.
